v  .** 


I 


In  compliance  with  current  copyright  law, 

U.  C.  Library  Bindery  produced  this  replacement  volume  on 

paper  that  meets  the  ANSI  Standard  Z39.48-1984  to  replace 

the  irreparably  deteriorated  original. 

1993 


PREFACE. 


This  book  doei  not  pretend  to  be  in  any  sense  a  history  of  tLe 
military  prisons,  nor   even  of  any  one  of  them.     It  is  merely  a  teat 
and  faithful  account  of  what  one  bov  saw  in  several  of  them.     He  fcafl 

•  ~-  -v'Tf 

no  better  opportunities  for  observation  than  any  other  oncttif  Ilia  com 
rades  in  captivity — not  so  good  as  many  of  them  had,  for  he  sfcayefl 
all  tke  time  with  his  companions,  and  saw  nothing  that  they  did  not 
see,  nor  experienced  anything  tfeat  they  did  not  experience. 

He  feels  that  after  all  that  he  has  said,  his  contribution  to  the 
knowledge  of  those  terribte  Golgothas  is  very  feeble  and  inadequate. 
He  has  fallen  as  fax  abort  of  truly  depicting  the  most  horrible-  and 
indefensible  phase  of  th£  war  of  the  rebellion  as  he  has  of  setting  fortti 
the  exalted  cocrage  aud  patriotism  of  those  plain,  unpretending  Ameri* 
can  beys  who  suffered  everything  that  "  a  Government  of  the  people, 
for  the  people,  and  by  the  people  should  not  perish  from  the  earth." 

His  chief  reward  in  writing  the  book  is  the  thought  that  he  may 
have  been  able  by  it  to  add  a  single  leaf  to  the  wreath  of  unfading 
glory  with  which  history  will  decorate  the  brow  of  tbat  noblest  and 
bravest  soldier  who  ever  stood  upon  any  field  of  battle — the  American 
boy,  JOHN  MC-ELROY. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

JL  Strange  Land  —  The  Heart  of  the  Appalachians  —  The  Gateway  of  an 
Empire  —  A  Sequestered  Vale,  and  a  Primitive,  Arcadian,  Non-pro 
gressive  People  ...  83 

CHAPTER  II. 

Scarcity  of  Food  for  the  Army  —  Raid  for  Forage  —  Encounter  with  the 
Rebels  —  Sharp  Cavalry  Fight— Defeat  of  the  '.',  Johnnies  "—  Powell's 
Valley  Opened  Up  87 

CHAPTER  III. 

Living  Off  the  Enemy — Reveling  in  the  Fatness  of  the  Country — Soldierly 
Purveying  and  Camp  Cookery  —  Susceptible  Teamsters  and  Their 
Tendency  to  Flightiness  —  Making  a  Soldier's  Bed  ....  43 

CHAPTER  IV. 

A  Bitter  Cold  Morning  and  a  Warm  Awakening  —  Trouble  All  Along  the 
Line  —  Fierce  Conflicts,  Assaults  and  Defense  —  Prolonged  and  Des 
perate  Struggle,  Ending  with  a  Surrender 50 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Reaction  —  Depression  —  Biting  Cold  —  Sharp  Hunger  aad  Sad  Re- 
flecticn  ......  .  Cl 

CHAPTER  VI. 

*  On  to  Richmond  I " —  Marching  OH  Foot  O  ver  the  Mountains  —  M  v  Horse 
kas  a  New  Rider  —  Unsophisticated  Mountain  Girls  —  Discussing  the 
Issues  of  the  War  — Parting  with  "  ITiatoga"  ...  O 

CHAPTER  VII. 

3ntering  Richmond  —  Disappointment  at  its  Appearance  —  Everybody  in 
Uniform  —  Curled  Darlings  of  the  Capital  —  The  Rebel  Flag  —  Libby 
B*»a*— DickTurMer  —  Searcbu^;  U*e  New  Corners  ...  74 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VIII 

Introduction  to  Prison  Life  —  The  Pemberton  Building  and  its  Occupants 
—  Neat  Sailors  —  Roll  Call  —  Rations  and  Clothing  —  Chivahic  "Con 
fiscation  " 88 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Beans  or  Peas  —  Insufficiency  of  Darky  Testimony  —  A  Guard  Kills  a 
Prisoner  —  Prisoners  Tease  the  Guards  —  Desperate  Outbreak  .  89 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  Exchange  and  the  Cause  of  its  Interruption  —  Brief  Resume  of  the 
Different  Cartels,  and  the  Difficulties  that  Led  to  Their  Suspension  09 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Putting  in  the  Time —  Rations  —  Cooking  Utensils— "Fiat"  Soup  — 
"Spooning" — African  Newspaper  Venders  —  Trading  Greeabacka 
Cor  Confederate  Money — Visit  from  John  Morgan  .  .  .  1(71 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Remarks  as  to  Nomenclature  —Vaccination  and  Its  Effects—"  N'Taarker's," 
Their  Characteristics,  and  their  Methods  of  Operating  .  .  10J 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Eelle  Isle  —  Terrible  Suffering  from  Cold  and  Hunger  —  Fate  of  Lieuten 
ant  Boisseux's  Dog —  Our  Company  Mystery  —  Termination  of  All 
Hopes  01  Its  Solution 114 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Hoping  for  Exchange  —  An  Exposition  of  the  Doctrine  of  Chances  —  Off 
fw  Andersouville  —  Uncertainty  as  to  Our  Destination  —  Arrival  at 
Andcrsonville 118 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Georgia  — A  Lean  and  Hungry  Land — Difference  between  Upper  and 

Lower  Georgia — T lie  Village  of  Andersonville       ....         122 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

"Waking  Up  in  Andersonville  —  Some  Description  of  the  Place— -Our 
First  Mail  —  Building  Shelter  —  Gen.  Winder  —  Himself  ana  Lineagb  12S 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

The  Plantation  Negros  —  Not  Too  Stupid  to  be  Loyal — Their  Ditfayrambic 
Music  —  Copperhead  Opinion  of  Longfellow  ....  134 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Schemes  and  Plans  to  Escape  —  Scaling  tfee  Stockade  —  Establishing  tto 
Dead  Line  —  Tlie  First  Man  Kilted  ......  133 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Henri  Wirz  —  Some  Description  of  a  Small-minded  Personage,  who 
Gained  Great  Notoriety  —  First  Experience  with  Hifl  Disciplinary 
Method 143 

CHAPTER  XX. 

Prize-fight  Among  the  N'  Yaarkers  — A  Great  Many  Formalities,  and  Little 
Blood  Spilt  —  A  Futile  Attempt  to  Recover  a  Watch  —  Defeat  of  the 
Law  and  Order  Party .14.3 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

Diminishing  Rations  — A  Deadly  Cold  Rain  —  Hovering  Orer  Pitch  Pine 
Fires —  Increase  of  Mortality  —  A  Theory  of  Health  .  .  151 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

Difference  Between  Alabamians  and  Georgians  —  Death  of  "VollParrott" 
—  A  Good  Joke  Upon  the  Guard  —  A  Brutal  Rascal  .  .  .  ICt) 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

A  New  Lot  of  Prisoners  —  The  Battle  of  Oolustee  —  Men  SwiAtVced  to  a 
General's  Incompetency —  A  Hoodlum  Reinforcement  —  A  Queer 
Crowd  —  Mistreatment  of  an  Officer  of  a  Colored  Regiment  —  Killing 
the  Sergeant  of  a  Negro  Squad 1C3 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

April  —  Longing  to  Get  Out  —  The  Death  Rate  —  The  Plague  of  J  4ce  — 
The  So-called  Hospital 1CJ 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

The  "Plymouth  Pilgrims  "—  Sad  Transition  from  Comfortable  Barracks 
to  Andersonville  —  A  Crazed  Pennsylvanian —-Development  of  the 
Sutler  Business 1C3 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Longings  fo"  God's  Country  —  Considerations  of  the  Methods  of  Getting 
There  —  Exchange  and  Escape  —  Digging  Tunnels,  and  the  Diilicul- 
lies  Oonnecuid  Therewith  —  Punishment  of  a  Traitor  .  .  .  IT 4 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

The  Hounds,  and  the  Difficulties  They  Put  in  the  Way  of  Escape  —  The 

\Vixole  Souih  Patrolled  by  Them    ...  .        .        .        1C1 

CHAPTER  XXVIIL 

Hay  —  Influx  of  New  Prisoners  —  Disparity  in  Numbers  Between  th« 
Eastern  and  Western  Armies  —  Terrible  Crowding  —  Slaujffctex  of 
Uea-at  the  Greek .13 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Some  Distinction  Between  Soldierly  Duty  and  Murder  —  A  Plot  to  Escape 
—  It  IB  Revealed  and  Frustrated 191 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

June  —  Possibilities  of  a  Murderous  Cannonade  —  What  was  Proposed 
to  be  Done  in  That  Event  —  A  False  Alarm —  Deterioration  of  the 
Rations  —  Fearful  Increase  of  Mortality l«d 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

Dying  by  Inches  —  Leitz,  the  Slow,  and  His  Death  —  Stiggall  and  Emer 
son  —  Ravages  of  the  Scurvy  2CO 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

"Ole  Boo,"  and  "  Ole  Sol,  the  Haymaker  "—A  Fetid,  Burning  Desert  — 
Noisome  Water,  and  the  Effects  of  Drinking  It—  Stealing  Soft  Soap  207 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

|{  Pour  Passer  le  Temps  "—  A  Set  of  Chessmen  Procured  Under  Difficul 
ties  —  Religious  Services  —  The  Devoted  Priest  —  War  Song  .  213 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

Maggots,  Lice  and  Raiders  —  Practices  of  These  Human  Vermin  —  Plun 
dering  the  Sick  and  Dying  —  Night  Attacks,  and  Battles  by  Day  — 
Hard  Times  for  the  Small  Traders  ....  2C9 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

A  Community  without  Government  —  Formation  of  the  Regulators  — 
Raiders  Attack  Key  but  are  Bluffed  Off  —  Assault  of  the  Regulators 
en  the  Raiders —  Desperate  Battle —  Overthrow  of  the  Raider j  .  225 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

Why  the  Regulators  were  not  Assisted  by  the  Entire  Camp  —  Peculiari 
ties  of  Boys  from  Different  Sections  —  Hunting  the  Raiders  Down  — 
Exploits  of  My  Left-handed  Lieutenant  —  Running  th«  Gauntlet .  221 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

Tt«  Execution  —  Building  the  Scaffold  —  Doubts  of  the  Camp  —  Captain 
Wirz  Thinks  It  Is  Probably  a  Ruse  to  Force  tbe  Stockade  —  Hia 
Preparations  Against  Such  an  Attempt  —  Entrance  of  the  Doomed 
Ones  —  They  Realize  Their  Fate  —  One  Makes  a  Desperate  Effort  to 
Escape  —  His  Re-capture  —  Intense  Excitement  —  Wirz  Orders  the 
Guns  to  Open  —  Fortunately  They  Do  Not  —  The  Six  are  Hanged  — 
One  Breaks  His  Rope  —  Scene  When  the  Raiders  are  Cut  Down  .  241 

CHAPTER  XXXVm. 

After  the  Execution  —  Formation  of  a  Police  Force  —  Ita  First  Chief — 
"Spanking"  an  Offender  •  «  •  ••••*  8S3i 


coxzzan*. 


CHAPTER 

July  —  Tie  Prison  Becomes  More  Crowded,  the  Weather  Hotter,  Rationi 
Poorer,  and  Mortality  Greater  —  Some  of  the  Phenomeoa  of  suilcr- 
ioganu  Death  .......  ...  258 

C3T  AFTER  XL. 

f!he  Battle  of  tlie  22d  of  July  —  The  Army  of  the  Tennessee  Assaulted 
Front  and  Rear  —  Death  of  General  McPherson  —  Ajasumption  of 
Command  by  General  Logan  —  Result  of  the  Battle  .  2-1 

CHAPTER  XLL 

Clothing:  Its  Rapid  Deterioration,  and  Devices  to  Replenish  It—  Des 
perate  Efforts  to  Cover  Nakedness—  "  Little  Red  Cap  n  and  His 
Letter  ............  283 

CHAPTER  YT,TT. 

tome  Features  of  the  Mortality  —  Percentage  of  Deaths  to  Those  Living 
—  An  Average  Man  Only  Stands  the  Misery  Three  Months  —  Descrip 
tion  of  the  Prison  and  the  Condition  of  the  Men  Therein,  by  a  Lead- 
inf  Scientific  Man  of  the  South  .......  284 

CHAPTER  XLHL 

Offficnlty  of  Exercising  —  Embarrassments  of  a  Morning  Walk  —  The 
Riaho  of  the  Prison  —  Cursing  the  Southern  Coaf  ederacy—  The  Story 

Ceurt  House    .        ....       823 


CHAPTER  XLTV. 

Hwfc  —Singular  Lack  of  the  Creative  Power  Among  the  South- 
«raera—  Contrast  with  Similar  People  Elsewhere  —  Their  Favorite 
Home,  and  where  it  was  Borrowed  from  —  A  Fifer  with  One  Tune  320 


CHAPTER 

Pumpkin 
Rioting  in  Remembered  Luxuries      >        ,        .  835 


August  —  BTeedlefl  Stock    in    Pumpkin    Seeds— Some  Phenomena    of 
titamtm— 


ANDERSONVILLE; 


A  STORY  OF  REBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS 


CHAPTER  L 

STRANGE  LAND  —  THE  HEART  OF  THE  APP^LACKTLIiC  — 
V.AT    OF  AN  EMPIRE  -  A  SEQUESTERED    VAXJE,    AND    A 
AEGADIAH,  NSN-PROQEaSSrVE   PEOEiE. 


CArT> 


A  I/TO,  square, 
plainly-hewn  stone, 
set  near  the  summit 
of  the  eastern  a^r 
proach  to  the  form* 
idable  natural  fort 
ress  of  Cumberland 
Gap,  indicates  the 
boundaries  of  the 
three  great  States 
of  Virginia,  Ken 
tucky  and  Tennes* 
see. 

It  is  such  a  place  as,  re 
membering    the    old    Greek 
and  Itoman  myths  and  super 
stitions,  one  would  recognize 
as  fitting  to  mark  the  con- 
iines  of  the  territories  of  great 
masses  of  strong,  aggressive, 
and     frequently     conflicting 
peoples.     There  the  god  Terminus  should  have  had  one  of  hia 
chief  temples,  where  bis  shrine  would  be  shadowed  by  barriers 
nsing  above  tiu  clouds,  s^.nd  his  sacred  solitude  guarded  from 
3 


«AP, 


£1 

the  rude  invasion  of  armed  hosts  by  range  on  range  of  battlo- 
mented  rocks,  crowning  almost  inaccessible  mountains,  inter 
posed  across  every  approach  from  the  usual  haunts  of  men. 

Koundabout  the  land  is  full  of  strangeness  and  mystery.  The 
throes  of  some  great  convulsion  of  Nature  are  written  on  the 
face  of  the  four  thousand  square  miles  of  territory,  of  which 
Cumberland  Gap  is  the  central  point.  Miles  of  granite  moun 
tains  are  thrust  up  like  giant  walls,  hundreds  of  feet  high,  and 
as  smooth  and  regular  as  the  side  of  a  monument. 

Huge,  f antasticaliy-shaped  rocks  abound  everywhere  —  some 
times  rising  into  pinnacles  on  lofty  summits  —  sometimes  hang 
ing  over  the  verge  of  beetling  cliffs,  as  if  placed  there  in  waiting 
for  a  time  when  they  could  be  hurled  down  upon  the  path  of 
an  advancing  army,  and  sweep  it  away. 

Large  streams  of  water  burst  out  in  the  most  unexpected 
places,  frequently  far  up  mountain  sides,  and  fall  in  silver  vails 
upon  stones  beaten  round  by  the  ceaseless  dash  for  ages. 
Caves,  rich  in  quaintly-formed  stalactites  and  stalagmites,  and 
their  recesses  filled  with  metallic  salts  of  the  most  powerful  and 
diverse  natures,  break  the  mountain  sides  at  frequent  intervals. 
Everywhere  one  is  met  by  surprises  and  anomalies.  Even  the 
rank  vegetation  is  eccentric,  and  as  prone  to  develop  into  bizarre 
forms  as  are  the  rocks  and  mountains. 

The  dreaded  panther  ranges  through  the  primeval,  rarely 
trodden  forests ;  every  crevice  in  the  rocks  has  for  tenants  rat 
tlesnakes  or  stealthy  copperheads,  while  long,  wonderfully 
swift  "  blue  racers "  haunt  the  edges  of  the  woods,  and  linger 
around  the  fields  to  chill  his  blood  who  catches  a  glimpse  of 
their  upreared  heads,  with  their  great,  balefuliy  bright  eyes, 
and  u  white-collar  "  encircled  throats. 

The  htman  events  happening  here  have  been  in  harmony 
with  the  natural  ones.  It  has  always  been  a  land  of  conflict. 
la  1540  —  339  years  ago  —  De  Soto,  in  that  energetic  but  fruit 
less  search  for  gold  which  occupied  his  later  years,  penetrated  to 
this  region,  and  found  it  the  fastness  of  the  Xuaians,  a  bold, 
aggressive  race,  continually  warring  with  its  neighbors.  When 
next  the  white  man  reached  the  country  —  a  century  and  a  half 
later — he  found  the  Xuaians  had  been  swept  away  by  the  con 
quering  Clierokees,  and  he  witnessed  there  the  most  sanguinary 


A  BTOBT  OF  BEBEL  SOLITARY  PEISON3.  £5 

contest  between  Indians  of  which  our  annals  give  any  account 
—  a  pitched  battle  two  days  in  duration,  between  the  invading 
Shawnees,  who  lorded  it  over  what  is  now  Kentucky,  Ohio  and 
Indiana  —  and  the  Cherokees,  who  dominated  the  country  to 
the  southeast  of  the  Cumberland  range.  Again  the  Cherokees 
were  victorious,  and  the  discomfited  Shawnees  retired  north  of 
the  Gap. 

Then  the  white  man  delivered  battle  for  the  possession  of 
the  land,  and  bought  it  with  the  lives  of  many  gallant  adven 
turers.  Half  a  century  later  Boone  and  his  hardy  companions 
followed,  and  forced  their  way  into  Kentucky. 

Another  half  century  saw  the  Gap  the  favorite  haunt  of  tho 
greatest  of  American  bandits  —  the  noted  John  A.  Murrell  —  and 
his  gang.  They  infested  the  country  for  years,  now  waylaying 
the  trader  or  drover  threading  his  toilsome  way  over  the  lonely 
mountains,  now  descending  upon  some  little  town,  to  plunder 
its  stores  and  houses. 

At  length  Murrell  and  his  band  were  driven  out,  and  sought 
a  new  field  of  operations  on  the  Lower  Mississippi.  They  left 
germs  behind  them,  however,  that  developed  into  horse  thieves, 
counterfeiters,  and  later  into  guerrillas  and  bushwhackers. 

When  the  Rebellion  broke  out  the  region  at  once  became  the 
theater  of  military  operations.  Twice  Cumberland  Gap  was 
seized  by  the  Rebels,  and  twice  was  it  wrested  away  from 
them.  In  1S61  it  was  the  point  whence  Zollicolicr  launched  out 
with  his  legions  to  "liberate  Kentucky,"  and  it  was  whither 
they  fled,  beaten  and  shattered,  after  the  disasters  of  Wild  Cat 
and  Mill  Springs.  In  1SC2  Kirby  Smith  led  his  army  through 
the  Gap  on  his  \vay  to  overrun  Kentucky  and  invade  the  North. 
Three  mo^Mis  later  his  beaten  forces  sought  refuge  from  their 
pursuers  behind  its  impregnable  fortifications.  Another  year 
saw  i'urnside  burst  through  the  Gap  with  a  conquering  force, 
and  redeem  loyal  East  Tennessee  from  its  Rebel  oppressors. 

Had  the  Suuth  ever  been  rible  to  separate  from  the  Xorthj 
the  boundarv  would  have  been  established  aionsr  this  line. 


o 

* 


Between  the  main  ridge  upon  which  Cumberland  Gap  is  sit- 
uated,  and  the  next  range  on  the  southeast  which  runs  parallel 
with  it;  is  a  narrow^  long,  very  fruitful  v alley,  wailed  in  en 


eitiior  side  for  a  hundred  miles  by  tall  mountains  as  a  City  street 
is  by  high  buildings.  It  is  called  Powell's  Valley.  In  it  dwell  a 
simple,  primitive  people,  shut  out  from  the  world  almost  aa 
much  as  if  they  lived  in  New  Zealand,  and  with  the  speech, 
manners  and  ideas  that  their  fathers  brought  into  the  Valley 
when  they  settled  it  a  century  ago.  There  has  been  but  little 
change  since  then.  The  young  men  who  have  annually  driven 
cattle  to  the  distant  markets  in  Kentucky,  Tennessee  and  Vir 
ginia,  have  brought  back  occasional  stray  bits  of  finery  for 
the  "women  folks,"  and  the  latest  improved  fire-arms  for  them 
selves,  but  this  is  about  all  the  innovations  the  progress  of  the 
world  has  been  allowed  to  make.  Wheeled  vehicles  are  almost 
unknown ;  men  and  women  travel  on  horseback  as  they  did  a 
century  ago,  the  clothing  is  the  product  of  the  farm  and  the 
busy  looms  of  the  women,  and  life  is  as  rural  and  Arcadian  as 
any  ever  described  in  a  pastoral.  The  people  are  rich  in  cat 
tle,  hogs,  horses,  sheep  and  the  products  of  the  field.  The  fat 
•oil  brings  forth  the  substantiate  of  life  in  opulent  plenty. 
Having  this  there  seems  to  be  little  care  for  more.  Ambition 
nor  avarice,  nor  yet  craving  after  luxury,  disturb  their  con 
tented  souls  or  drag  them  away  from  the  non-progressive  round 
of  simple  life  bcu  u^tlicd  thftm  by  thoir  f&tliors. 


CHAPTER  IL 


SOARCTTT  OF  FOOD  FO*  THE  ARMY SAID  FOB  FORAGE  —  EKOWKTEB 

WITH     THI     EEBKLfl SHARP    CAVALBY    FIOHT DEFEAT    OF   TSJB 


As  the  Autumn  of  1863  advanced  towards  Winter  the  diffi 
culty  of  supplying  the  forces  concentrated  around  Cumberland 
Gap  —  as  well  as  the  rest  of  Burnside's  army  in  East  Tennessee 

—  became  greater  and  greater.     The  base  of  supplies  was  at 
Camp  Nelson,  near  Lexington,  Ky.,  one  hundred  aad  eighty 
miles  from  the  Gap,  and  all  that  the  Army  used  had  to  be  hauled 
that  distance  by  mule  teams  over  roads  that,  in  their  best  state, 
were  wretched,  and  which  the  copious  rains  and  heavy  traffic  had 
rendered  well-nigh  impassable.    All  the  country  in  our  possession 
had  been  drained  of  its  stock  of  whatever  would  contribute  to  the 
support  of  man  or  beast.     That  portion  of  Powell's  Valley  ex 
tending  from  the  Gap  into  Virginia  was  still  in  the  hands  of 
the  Rebels;    its  stock  of  products  was   as  yet  almost  exempt 
from  military  contributions.     Consequently  a  raid  was  project 
ed  to  reduce  the  Valley  to  our  possession,  and  secure  its  much 
needed  stores.     It  was  guarded  by  the  Sixty-fourth  Virginia, 
a,  mounted  regiment,  made  up  of  the  young  men  of  the  local 
ity,  who  had  then  been  in  the  service  about  two  years. 

Maj.  C.  H.  Beers  Third  Battalion,  Sixteenth  Illinois  Cavalry 

—  four  companies,  each  about  75  strong  —  was  sent  on  the  errand 
of  driving  out  the  Rebels  and  opening  up  the  Valley  for  our 
foraging  teams.     The  writer  was  invited  to  attend  the  excur 
sion..     As  he  held  the  honorable,  but  not  very  lucrative  position 
of  "  high  private  "  in  Company  L,  of  the  Battalion,  and  the  in 
vitation  came  from  his  Captain,  he  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  do* 


S3  JLHDEBSOHVTLLX. 

cline.  He  went,  as  private  soldiers  have  been  in  the  ha&Il  of 
doing  ever  since  the  days  of  the  old  Centurion,  who  said  with 
the  characteristic  boastfulness  of  one  of  the  lower  grades  of 
commissioned  officers  when  he  happens  to  be  a  snob : 

For  I  am  also  a  man  set  under  authority,  having  under  me  soldiers,  and  I  say  unto  one,  So; 
and  he  goeth ;  and  to  another,  Come,  and  he  cometh  ;  and  to  my  servant.  Do  this,  and  he 


Rather  "  airy  "  talk  that  for  a  man  who  nowadays  would 
take  rank  with  Captains  of  jpfa.nt.ry, 


A  CAVALRY 

Three  hundred  of  us  responded  to  the  signal  of  "  boots  and  sad 
dles,"  buckled  on  three  hundred  more  or  less  trusty  sabers  and 
revolvers,  saddled  three  hundred  more  or  less  gallant  steeds,  came 
into  line  "  as  companies  "  with  the  automatic  listlessness  of  the 
old  soldiers,  "  counted  off  ty  fours"  in  that  queer  gamut-running 
style  that  makes  a  company  of  men  "  counting  oil "  —  each  shout 
ing  a  number  in  a  different  voice  from  his  neighbor  —  sound  liko 


JL  8TOEY  OT 


HHJTAXY  FBIBOISTB. 


running  th^  scales  on  some  great  organ  badly  out  of  tune ;  some 
thing  like  this : 


3T 


One.    Two.    Three.    FOOT.    One. 


Three.    FOOT.    One.   Two.   Three.   Four 


Then,  as  the  bugle  sounded  "  Eight  forward  !  fours  right!" 
we  moved  off  at  a  walk  through  the  melancholy  mist  that 
Booked  ;hrough  the  very  fiber  of  man  and  horse,  and  reduced 
the  minds  of  both  to  a  condition  of  limp  indifference  as  to  things 
past,  present  and  future. 

Whither  we  were  going  we  knew  not,  nor  cared.  Such  mat 
ters  had  long  since  ceased  to  excite  any  interest.  A  cavalryman 
soon  recognizes  as  the  least  astonishing  thing  in  his  existence 
the  signal  to  "Fall  in!  "  and  start  somewhere.  He  feels  that  he 
is  the  "  Poor  Joe  "  of  the  Army  —  under  perpetual  orders  to 
"move  on." 

Down  we  wound  over  the  road  that  zig-zagged  through  the 
forts,  batteries  and  rifle-pits  covering  the  eastern  ascent  to  the 
Gap  —  past  the  wonderful  Murrell  Spring  —  so-called  because  the 
robber  chief  had  killed,  as  he  stooped  to  drink  of  its  crystal  wa 
ters,  a  rich  drover,  whom  he  was  pretending  to  pilot  through 
the  mountains  —  down  to  where  the  "  Virginia  road  "  turned 
off  sharply  to  the  left  and  entered  Powell's  Valley.  The  mist 
had  become  a  chill,  dreary  rain,  through  which  we  plodded 
silently,  until  night  closed  in  around  us  some  ten  miles  from  the 
Gap.  As  we  halted  to  go  into  camp,  an  indignant  Virginian 
resented  the  invasion  of  the  sacred  soil  by  firing  at  one  of  the 
guards  moving  out  to  his  place.  The  guard  looked  at  the  fel 
low  contemptuously,  as  if  he  hated  to  waste  powder  on  a  man 
who  had  no  better  sense  than  to  stay  out  in  such  a  rain,  when 
he  could  go  in-doors,  and  the  bushwhacker  escaped,  without 
even  a  return  shot. 

Fires  were  built,  coffee  made,  horses  rubbed,  and  we  laid  down 
frith  feet  to  the  fire  to  get  what  sleep  we  could. 

Before  morning  we  were  awakened  by  the  bitter  cold.  It 
had  cleared  off  during  the  night  and  turned  so  cold  thai  every 
thing  was  frozen  stiff.  This  was  better  than  the  rain,  at  all 


4y  <  A  n i iTSKflOJf  v  n  -T^T^ 

events.    A  good  fire  and  a  hot  cup  of  coffee  would  make  ft* 
cold  quite  endurable. 

At  daylight  the  bugle  sounded  "Right  forward  /fours  right f 
again,  and  the  300  of  us  resumed  our  onward  plod  over  ihe 
jociy,  cedar-crowned  hillg, 


THE  EEUELtt    MARCHING   THROUGH  JONESVELLK. 

In  the  meantime,  other  things  were  taking  place  elsewhere. 
Our  esteemed  friends  of  the  Sixty-fourth  Virginia,  who  were  in 
camp  at  the  little  town  of  Jonesville,  about  40  miles  from  the 
Gap,  had  learned  of  our  starting  up  the  Valley  to  drive  them 
out,  and  they  showed  that  warm  reciprocity  characteristic  of 
the  Southern  soldier,  by  mounting  and  starting  down  the  Valley", 
to  drive  ns  out.  Nothing  could  be  more  harmonious,  it  will  be 
perceived.  Barring  the  trifling  divergence  of  views  as  to  who 
was  to  drive  and  who  be  driven,  there  was  perfect  accord  in  our 
ideas. 

Our  numbers  were  about  equal.     If  I  were  to  say  that  they 
isidfirably  outnumbered  us.  I  would  be  following  tho 


A  ffTOET  OF  REBEL  MILITJLBY  PEIS02TB. 

sal  precedent.  No  soldier — high  or  low — ever  admitted  engag 
ing  an  equal  or  inferior  force  of  the  enemy. 

About  9  o'clock  in  the  morning — Sunday  —  they  rode  through 
the  streets  of  Jonesville  on  their  way  to  give  us  battle.  It  was 
here  that  most  of  the  members  of  the  Eegiment  lived.  Every 
man,  woman  and  child  in  the  town  was  related  in  some  way  to 
nearly  every  one  of  the  soldiers. 

The  women  turned  out  to  wave  their  fathers,  husbands, 
brothers  and  lovers  on  to  victory.  The  old  men  gathered  to 
give  parting  counsel  and  encouragement  to  their  sons  and  kin 
dred.  The  Sixty-fourth  rode  away  to  what  hope  told  them 
would  be  a  glorious  victory. 

At  noon  we  are  still  straggling  along  without  much  attempt 
at  soldierly  order,  over  the  rough,  frozen  hill-sides.  It  is  yet 
bitterly  cold,  and  men  and  horses  draw  themselves  together,  as 
if  to  expose  as  little  surface  as  possible  to  the  unkind  elements. 
Not  a  word  had  been  spoken  by  any  one  for  hours. 

The  head  of  the  column  has  just  reached  the  top  of  the  hill, 
and  the  rest  of  us  are  strung  along  for  a  quarter  of  a  mile  or 
•o  back 

Suddenly  a  few  shots  ring  out  upon  the  frosty  air  from  the 
carbines  of  the  advance.  The  general  apathy  is  instantly  re 
placed  by  keen  attention,  a"nd  the  boys  instinctively  range  them 
selves  into  fours  —  the  cavalry  unit  of  action.  The  Major,  who 
is  riding  about  the  middle  of  the  first  Company  —  I  —  dashes  to 
the  front.  A  glance  seems  to  satisfy  him,  for  he  turns  ia  his 
•addle  and  his  voice  rings  out : 

"  Company  I!  FOURS  LEFT  INTO  LINE  !  —  MARCH  1 1  *J 

The  Company  swings  around  on  the  hill-top  like  a  great, 
jointed  toy  snake.  As  the  fours  come  into  line  on  a  trot.  \vo  see 
every  man  draw  his  saber  and  revolver.  The  Company  raises 
a  mighty  cheer  and  dashes  forward. 

Company  K  presses  forward  to  the  ground  Company  I  has 
just  left,  the  fours  sweep  around  into  line,  the  sabers  and 
revolvers  come  out  spontaneously,  the  men  cheer,  and  the  Com 
pany  flings  itself  forward. 

All  tliis  time  we  of  Company  L  can  see  nothing  except  what 
the  companies  ahead  of  us  are  doing.  We  are  wrought  up  to 
the  highest  pitch.  As  Company  K  clears  its  ground,  we  press 


AHDERSO^TILLB 


forward  eagerly.  Now  we  go  into  line  just  as  we  raise  the  hill, 
and  as  my  four  comes  around,  I  catch  a  hurried  glimpse  through 
a  rift  in  the  smoke  of  a  line  of  butternut  and  gray  clad  men  a 
hundred  yards  or  so  away.  Their  guns  are  at  their  faces,  and  I 
§ee  the  smoke  and  fire  spurt  from  the  muzzles.  At  the  same 
instant  our  sabers  and  revolvers  are  drawn.  "We  shout  in  a 
frenzy  of  excitement,  and  the  horses  spring  forward  as  if  shot 
from  a  bow. 

I  see  nothing  more  until  I  reach  the  place  wkere  the  Rebel 
line  stood.  Then  I  find  it  is  gone.  Looking  beyond  toward 
tfee  bottom  of  the  hiD,  I  see  the  woods  filled  with  Rebels 
%pimg  in  disorder,  and  our  men  yelling  in  pursuit.  Thia  is  the 
portion  of  the  line  which  Companies  I  and  K  struck.  Here 
ami  tfeere  are  men  in  butternut  clothing,  prone  on  the  frozen 
ground,  wounded  said  dying.  I  have  just  time  to  notice  closely 
«ae  imddk-aged  man  lying  almost  under  my  horse's  feet.  Her 
kas  received  a  carbine  bullet  through  his  head  and  his  blood 
oolors  a  great  space  around  him. 


^T 


iSf  YAJ4DS       KILLING  THE 


A  ftTOSY  0V  ftfiSEL  MHITA&Y  KMSOWL  48 

One  brave  man,  riding  a  roan  horse,  attempts  to  rally  hia 
companions.  He  halts  on  a  little  knoll,  wheels  his  horse  to 
face  us,  and  waves  his  hat  to  draw  his  companions  to  him.  A 
tall,  lank  fellow  in  the  next  four  to  me  —  who  goes  by  the  nick 
name  of  "  'Leven  Yards  "  —  aims  his  carbine  at  him,  and,  with- 
out  checking  his  horse's  pace,  fires.  The  heavy  Sharpe's  bullet 
tears  a  gaping  hole  through  the  Rebel's  heart.  He  drops  from 
his  saddle,  his  life-blood  runs  down  in  little  rills  on  either  side 
of  the  knoll,  and  his  riderless  horse  dashes  away  in  a  panic. 

At  this  instant  comes  an  order  for  the  Company  to  break  up 
into  fours  and  press  on  through  the  forest  in  pursuit.  My  four 
trots  off  to  the  road  at  the  right,  A  Rebel  bugler,  who  has 
been  cut  off,  leaps  his  horse  into  the  road  in  front  of  us,  We 
all  fire  at  him  on  the  impulse  of  the  moment.  He  falls  from 
his  horse  with  a  bullet  through  his  back.  Company  M,  which 
has  remained  in  column  as  a  reserve,  is  now  thundering  up 
close  behind  at  a  gallop.  Its  seventy-five  powerful  horses  are 
spurning  the  solid  earth  with  steel-clad  hoofs.  The  man  will 
be  ground  into  a  shapeless  mass  if  left  where  he  has  fallen.  We 
spring  from  our  horses  and  drag  him  into  a  fence  corner ;  then 
remount  and  join  in  the  pursuit. 

This  happened  on  the  summit  of  Chestnut  Ridge,  fifteen  mileg 
from  Jonesville. 

Late  in  the  afternoon  the  anxious  watchers  at  Jonesville  saw  a 
single  fugitive  urging  his  well-nigh  spent  horse  down  the  slope 
of  the  hill  toward  town.  In  an  agony  of  anxiety  they  hurried 
forward  to  meet  him  and  learn  his  news. 

The  first  messenger  who  rushed  into  Job's  presence  to 
announce  the  beginning  of  the  series  of  misfortunes  which  were 
to  afflict  the  upright  man  of  Uz  is  a  type  of  all  the  cowards 
who,  before  or  since  then,  have  been  the  first  to  speed  away 
from  the  field  of  battle  to  spread  the  news  of  disaster.  He  said : 

And  the  Sabe&cs  fell  npon  them,  and  took  then  away  ;  yea,  they  have  •lain  tha  ternst* 
with  th«  edge  of  the  rword  ;  and  /  only  am  t»captd  alont  to  tall  ihe*. 

So  this  fleeing  Virginian  shouted  to  his  expectant  friends : 
"  The  boys  are  all  cut  to  pieces  ;  I'm  the  only  one  that  got 

away." 

The  terrible  extent  of  his  words  was  belied  a  little  later,  by 

the  appearance  on  the  distant  summit  of  the  hill  of  a  consider 


44  A1TDKR80NYTLLS. 

able  mob  of  fugitives,  flying  at  the  utmost  speed  of  their  nearly 
exhausted  horses.  As  they  caiae  oa  dawn  the  hill  an  almost 
equally  disorganized  crowd  of  pursuers  appeared  on  the  sum 
mit,  yelling  in  voices  hoarse  with  continued  shouting,  and  pour 
ing  an  incessant  fire  of  carbine  and  revolver  bullets  upon  the 
hapless  men  of  the  Sixty-fourth  Virginia. 

The  two  masses  of  men  swept  on  through  the  town.  Beyond 
it,  the  road  branched  in  several  directions,  the  pursued  scattered 
on  each  of  these,  and  the  worn-out  pursuers  gave  up  the  chase. 

Returning  to  Jonesville,  we  took  an  account  of  stock,  and 
found  that  we  were  "  ahead  "  one  hundred  and  fifteen  prisoners, 
nearly  that  many  horses,  and  a  considerable  quantity  of  small 
arms.  IIow  many  of  the  enemy  had  been  killed  and  wounded 
could  not  be  told,  as  they  were  scattered  over  the  whole  fifteen 
miles  between  where  the  fight  occurred  and  the  pursuit  ended. 
Our  loss  was  trifling. 

Comparing  notes  around  the  camp-fires  in  the  evening,  we 
found  that  our  success  had  been  owing  to  the  Major's  instinct 
ive  grasp  of  the  situation,  and  the  soldierly  way  in  which  he 
took  advantage  of  it.  When  he  reached  the  summit  of  the  hill 
he  found  the  Rebel  line  nearly  formed  and  ready  for  action. 
A  moment's  hesitation  might  have  been  fatal  to  us.  At  his 
command  Company  I  went  into  line  with  the  thought-like  celer 
ity  of  trained  cavalry,  and  instantly  dashed  through  the  right 
of  the  Rebel  line.  Company  K  followed  and  plunged  through 
the  Rebel  center,  and  when  we  of  Company  L  arrived  on  the 
ground,  and  charged  the  left,  the  last  vestige  of  resistance  was 
•wept  away.  The  whole  affair  did  not  probably  occupy  more 
fifteen  minutes. 

This  was  the  way  Powell's  Valley  was  opened  to  our  foragers. 


CHAPTER  IIL 


OFF  THTC  1OTCMT BEVELING  IK  THE  FATHK8B  OF  TH.lt  UUWfl'Bl 

SOLDIERLY      PURVEYING      AND     GAMP     COOKERY ftUSCEPTTBUi 

TKAM8TER8     AND    THEIR   TENDENCY    TO    FUGHTINEflS MAD2TO    A 


FOB  weeks  we  rode  up  and  down  —  hither  and  thither  —  along 
*he  length  of  the  narrow,  granite- walled  Valley ;  between  moun 
tains  so  lofty  that  the  sun  labored  slowly  over  them  in  the 
morning,  occupying  half  the  forenoon  in  getting  to  where  his 
rays  would  reach  the  stream  that  ran  through  the  Valley's  cen- 
ler.  Perpetual  shadow  reigned  on  the  northern  and  western 
taces  of  these  towering  nights  —  not  enough  warmth  and  sun 
shine  reaching  them  in  the  cold  months  to  check  the  growth  of 
the  ever-lengthening  icicles  hanging  from  the  jutting  cliffs,  ox- 
raelt  the  arabesque  frost-forms  with  which  the  many  dashing 
cascades  decorated  the  adjacent  rocks  and  shrubbery.  Occdr 
sionally  we  would  see  where  some  little  stream  ran  down  over 
the  face  of  the  bare,  black  rocks  for  many  hundred  feet,  and 
then  its  course  would  be  a  long  band  of  sheeny  white,  like  a 
great  rich,  spotless  scarf  of  satin,  festooning  the  war-grimed 
walls  of  some  old  castle. 

Our  duty  now  was  to  break  up  any  nuclei  or  concentratroa 
that  the  Rebels  might  attempt  to  form,  and  to  guard  our  for 
agers —  that  is,  the  teamsters  and  employes  of  the  Quartermas 
ters  Department  —  who  were  loading  grain  into  wagons  an\l 
hauling  it  away. 

This  last  was  an  arduous  task.  There  is  no  man  in  the  world 
that  needs  as  much  protection  as  an  Army  teamster.  He  is 
worse  in  this  respect  than  a  Xew  England  manufacturer,  or  an 


48  ATTDZTtSONVILLE. 

old  maid  on  her  travels.  He  is  given  to  sudden  fears  and 
causeless  panics.  Yery  innocent  cedars  have  a  fashion  of  assum 
ing  in  his  eyes  the  appearance  of  desperate  Rebels  armed  with 
murderous  guns,  and  there  is  no  telling  what  moment  a  rock 
may  take  such  a  form  as  to  freeze  his  young  blood,  and  make 
each  particular  hair  stand  on  end  like  quills  upon  the  fretful 
porcupine.  One  has  to  be  particular  about  snapping  caps  in 
hif  neighborhood,  and  give  to  hrm  careful  warning  before  dis 
charging  a  carbine  to  dean  it.  His  first  impulse,  when  any 
thing  occurs  to  jar  upon  his  delicate  nerves,  is  to  cut  his  whod 


A   SOARED   MULE   DRIVER. 

Ernie  loosfl  and  retire  with  the  precipitation  of  a  man  having  an 
appointment  to  keep  and  being  behind  time.  There  is  no  man 
who  can  get  as  much  speed  out  of  a  mule  a.s  a  teamster  falling 
back  from  the  neighborhood  of  heavy  firing. 

This  nervous  tremor  was  not  peculiar  to  the  engineers  of  our 
transportation  department.     It  was  noticeable  in  the  gentry 


A  8TOBT  01-  MTLTTABT  EEBEL  PRISON*.  4T 


who  carted  the  scanty  provisions  of  the  Rebels.  O£«  oi 
"^heeler's  cavalrymen  told  me  that  the  brigade  to  w£acb  he  be 
longed  was  one  evening  ordered  to  move  at  daybreak.  The  night 
was  rainy,  and  it  was  thought  best  to  discharge  the  guns  and 
reload  before  starting.  Unfortunately,  it  was  neglected  to 
inform  the  teamsters  of  this,  and  at  the  first  discharge  they  van 
ished  from  the  scene  with  such  energy  that  it  was  over  a  week 
before  the  brigade  succeeded  in  getting  them  back  again. 

Why  association  with  the  mule  should  thus  demoralize  a  man, 
has  always  been  a  puzzle  to  me,  for  whila  the  mule,  as  Col. 
Ingersoll  has  remarked,  is  an  animal  without  pride  of  ancestry 
or  hope  of  posterity,  he  is  still  not  a  coward  by  any  means.  It 
is  beyond  dispute  that  a  full-grown  and  active  lioness  once 
attacked  a  mule  in  the  grounds  of  the  Cincinnati  Zoological 
Garden,  and  was  ignominiously  beaten,  receiving  injuries  from 
which  she  died  shortly  afterward. 

The  apparition  of  a  badly-scared  teamster  urging  one  of  his 
wheel  mules  at  break-neck  speed  over  the  rough  ground,  yelling 
for  protection  against  "them  Johnnies,"  who  had  appeared  OD 
some  hilltop  in  sight  of  where  he  was  gathering  corn,  was  an 
almost  hourly  occurrence.  Of  course  the  squad  dispatched  to 
ibis  assistance  found  nobody. 

Still,  there  were  plenty  of  Rebels  in  the  country,  and  they 
hung  around  our  front,  exchanging  shots  with  us  at  long  taw, 
and  occasionally  treating  us  to  a  volley  at  close  range,  from 
some  favorable  point.  But  we  had  the  decided  advantage  of 
them  at  this  game.  Our  Sharpe's  carbines  were  much  superior 
in  every  way  to  their  Eniieids.  They  would  shoot  much  far 
ther,  and  a  great  deal  more  rapidly,  so  that  the  Virginians  were 
not  long  in  discovering  that  they  were  losing  more  than  thev 
gained  in  this  useless  warfare. 

Once  they  played  a  sharp  practical  joke  upon  us.  Copper 
River  is  a  deep,  exceedingly  rapid  mountain  stream,  with  a  very 
slippery  rocky  bottom.  The  Rebels  blockaded  a  ford  in  such  a 
way  that  it  was  almost  impossible  for  a  horse  to  koer  his  feet. 
Then  they  tolled  us  off  in  pursuit  of  a  small  p.irty  to  this  ford. 
"When  we  came  to  it  there  was  a  liirht  line  of  skirmishers  on  the 
opposite  bank,  who  popped  away  at  us  industriously.  Our  boys 
formed  in  line,  gave  the  customary  cheer,  and  dashed  in  to  carry 


ta 

the  ford  at  a  charge.  As  they  did  so  at  least  one-half  of  thfc 
horses  went  down  as  if  they  were  shot,  and  rolled  over  their 
ridjers  in  the  swift  running,  ice-cold  waters.  The  Rebels  yelled 
a  tehunphant  laugh,  as  they  galloped  away,  and  the  laugh  was 
reechoed  by  our  fellows,  who  were  as  quick  to  see  the  joke  as 
the  other  side.  We  tried  to  get  even  with  them  by  a  sharp 
chase,  but  we  gave  it  up  after  a  few  miles,  without  having 
taken  any  prisoners. 

But,  after  all,  there  was  much  to  make  our  sojourn  in  the 
Vafley  endurable.  Though  we  did  not  wear  fine  linen,  we 
fared  sumptuously — for  soldiers — every  day.  The  cavalryman 
is  always  charged  by  the  infantry  and  artillery  with  having  a 
finer  and  surer.,  scent  for  the  good  tilings  in  the  country  than 
any  other  man  in  the  service.  He  is  believed  to  have  an  instinct 
that  will  unfailingly  lead  him,  in  the  darkest  night,  to  the 
roosting  place  of  the  most  desirable  poultry,  and  after  he  has 
ramped  in  a  neighborhood  for  awhile  it  would  require  a  close 
/chemical  analysis  to  find  a  trace  of  ham. 

We  did  our  best  to  sustain  the  reputation  of  our  arm  of  the 
service.  We  found  the  most  delicious  hams  packed  away  in  the 
ash-houses.  They  were  small,  and  had  thatj  exquisite  nutty 
flavor,  peculiar  to  mast-fed  bacon.  Then  there  was  an  abund 
ance  of  the  delightful  little  apple  known  as  "  romanites."  There 
were  turnips,  pumpkins,  cabbages,  potatos.  and  the  usual  pro 
ducts  of  the  field  in  plenty,  even  profusion.  The  corn  in  the 
fields  furnished  an  ample  supply  of  breadstuff.  We  carried  it 
to  and  ground  it  in  the  quaintest,  rudest  little  mills  that  can  b« 
imagine:. L  outside  of  tke  primitive  affairs  by  which  the  women 
of  Arabia  coarsely  powder  the  grain  for  the  family  meal 
Sometimes  thfi  mill  would  consist  only  of  four  stout  posts  thrust 
into  the  ground  at  the  edge  of  some  stream.  A  line  of  boul- 
dera  reaching  diagonally  across  the  stream  answered  for  a  dam» 
by  diverting  a  portion  of  the  volume  of  water  to  a  channel  at 
the  pkie,  where  it  moved  a  clumsily  constructed  wheel,  that 
turned  two  small  stones,  not  larger  than  good-sized  grindstones. 
Over  this  would  be  a  shed  made  by  resting  poles  in  forked 
posts  stuck  into  the  ground,  and  covering  these  with  clapboards 
held  in  place  by  large  fiat  stones.  They  resembled  the  mills  of 
the  gods  —  in  grinding  siowly.  It  used  to  seem  that  a  healthj 
could  eat  the  ineal  faster  than  they  ground  it. 


A  fTOST  07  XEBEL  MUJTAST  PETSOSS.  49 

what  savory  meals  we  used  to  concoct  around  the  camp- 
fires,  out  of  the  rich  materials  collected  during  the  day's  nde  ! 
Such  stews,  such  soups,  such  broils,  such  wonderful  commix 
tures  of  things  diverse  in  nature  and  antagonistic  in  properties* 
goch  daring  culinary  experiments  in  combining  materials  never 
before  attempted  to  be  combined.  The  French  say  of  unta-rte- 
fal  arrangement  of  hues  in  dress  —  "that  the  colors  swear  at 
each  other."  I  have  often  thought  the  same  thing  of  ike 
beterogeneities  that  go  to  make  up  a  soldier's  p&t-Orfett. 

But  for  all  that  they  never  failed  to  taste  delkaoH&ly  after  a 
long  day's  ride.  Tbey  were  washed  down  by  a  tinenpftd.  of 
coffee  strong  enough  to  tan  leather,  tfoea  caane  a  brier-vood 
pipeful  of  fragrant  kinnikinnic,  and  a  seat  by  the  ruddy,  spark 
ling  fire  of  aromatic  cedar  logs,  that  diffused  at  once  warmth, 
and  spicy,  pleasing  incense.  A  cbat  over  the  events  of  the  day, 
and  the  prospect  of  the  morrow,  the  wonderful  merits  tff  each 
man's  horse,  and  the  disgusting  irregularities  of  the  mails  from 
home,  lasted  until  the  silver-  voiced  bugle  rang  out  the  sweet, 
mournful  tattoo  of  the  Regulations,  to  the  flowing  cadences  of 
which  the  boys  had  arranged  the  absurdly  incongruous  words  : 


—  D-*-u-t-o-h-«-r-will-yoa  fight-mit 
Zwei-gituu  of  Uger-bter,  j&!  >&'  *t  1 

Words  were  fitted  to  all  the  calls,  which  generally  bore  some 
relativeness  to  the  signal,  but  these  were  as  destitute  of  con- 
gruity  as  of  sense. 

Tattoo  always  produces  an  impression  of  extreme  loneliness. 
As  its  weird,  half-wailing  notes  ring  out  and  are  answered  back 
from  the  distant  roclcs  shrouded  in  ni^ht,  and  perhaps  conceal- 

O         •  x  1 

ing  the  lurking  foe,  the  soldier  remembers  that  he  is  far  av.'ay 
from  home  and  friends  —  <ieep  in  the  enemy's  cuunti-y.  encom 
passed  on  every  hand  by  those  in  deadly  hostility  to  Lira,  who 
are  perhaps  even  then  maturing  the  preparations  for  his  dtxs  emo 
tion. 

As  the  tattoo  sounds,  the  boys  arise  from  around  the  iira, 
visk  the  horse  line,  see  that  their  horses  are  securely  tied,  rub 
off  from  the  fetlocks  and  ioijs  such  specks  of  mud  <us  raay  Liave 
escaped  tne  cieanmir  in  tne  eariy  evening,  und  U  possible,  smug- 
orin  rb«Mr  faithful  four-footed  friends  a  lew  oars  01  coin,  or 
anotLier  bunuh  of  hay. 


50 


If  not  too  tired,  and  everything  else  is  favorable,  the  cavalry 
man  has  prepared  himself  a  comfortable  couch  for  the  night. 
He  always  sleeps  with  a  chum.  The  two  have  gathered  enough 
small  tufts  of  pine  or  cedar  to  make  a  comfortable,  springy, 
mattress-like  foundation.  On  tkis  is  laid  the  poncho  or  rubber 
blanket.  Next  comes  one  of  their  overcoats,  and  upon  this 
they  lie,  covering  themselves  with  the  two  blankets  and  the 
other  overcoat,  their  feet  towards  the  fire,  their  boots  at  the 
foot,  and  their  belts,  with  revolver,  saber  and  carbine,  at  the 
sides  of  the  bed.  It  is  surprising  what  an  amount  of  comfort 
a  man  can  get  out  of  such  a  coach,  and  how,  at  an  alarm,  he 
springs  from  it,  almost  instantly  dressed  and  armed. 


: —    -^3CZ=r^j74F — -^g^t?^;^jg^£»^S5r±^g»-^ 


BUGLER    SOUNDING  *    TATS." 


A  tTOBT  OF  REBXL  MILITARY  PBX0O9* 


Half  an  hour  after  tattoo  the  bugle  rings  out  another  sadly 

strain,  that  hath  a  dying  sound  : 


TAPS. 

^     /TN 


L4-g-b-k-«  O-»-tI  Li^hta  oat,  ligfaU 


fer-tte 


1    Ught*  o«U       JTor  tfc*  o-i  c-h-t. 


CHAPTER  IT. 

4  MITER  COLD   MORNING   AND  A  WABM   AWAKENING TBOOTIS  ALL 

ALONG  THE  LINE FIERCE    CONFLICTS,    ASSAULTS  AND  DEFENSE 

PROLONGED  AND  DESPERATE  STRUGGLE  ENDING  WITH  A  SURRENDER. 

THE  night  had  been  the  most  intensely  cold  that  the  country 
had  know*  for  many  years.  Peach  and  other  tender  trees  had 
been  killed  by  the  frosty  rigor,  and  sentinels  had  been  frozen  to 
death  in  our  neighborhood.  The  deep  snow  on  which  we  made 
ow  beds,  the  icy  covering  of  the  streams  near  us,  the  limbs  of 
the  trees  above  ns,  had  been  cracking  with  loud  noises  all  night, 
from  the  bitter  cold. 

"We  were  camped  around  Jonesville,  each  of  the  four  compa 
nies  lying  on  one  of  the  roads  leading  from  the  town.  Com 
pany  L  lay  about  a  mile  from  the  Court  House.  On  a  knoll  at 
the  end  of  the  village  towaru  ns,  and  at  a  point  where  two 
roaths  separated,  —  one  of  which  led  to  us,  —  stood  a  three-inch 
Rodman  rifle,  belonging  to  the  Twenty-second  Ohio  Battery. 
It  and  its  squad  of  eighteen  men,  under  command  of  Lieutenant 
Alger  and  Sergeant  Davis,  had  been  sent  up  to  us  a  few  days 
before  from  the  Gap. 

The  comfortless  gray  dawn  was  crawling  sluggishly  over  the 
mountain-tops,  as  if  numb  as  the  animal  and  vegetable  life 
whi^h  had  been  shrinking  all  the  long  hours  under  the  fierce 
ttiili. 

The  Major's  bugler  had  saluted  the  morn  with  the  lively, 
ringing  t-a-r-r-r-a-ta-a-a  of  the  Regulation  reveille,  and  the  com 
pany  buglers,  as  fast  as  they  could  thaw  out  their  mouth-pieces, 
were  answering  him. 

I  lay  on  my  bed,  dreading  to  get  up,  and  yet  not  anxioua  to  lie 


A  8T0XT  Oy  SEBKL  KTLTTUCY  PRIftOITi.  63 

•till  It  was  a  question  which  would  be  the  more  u^  comforta 
ble.  I  turned  over,  to  see  if  there  was  not  another  position  in 
which  it  would  be  warmer,  and  began  wishing  for  the  thou 
sandth  time  that  the  efforts  for  the  amelioration  of  the  horrors 
of  warfare  would  progress  to  such  a  point  as  to  put  a  stop  to 
all  Winter  soldiering,  so  that  a  fellow  could  go  home  as  soon,  aa 
oold  weather  began,  sit  around  a  comfortable  stove  in  a  country 
•tore,  and  tell  camp  stories  until  the  Spring  was  far  enough 
advanced  to  let  him  go  back  to  the  front  wearing  a  straw  hat 
and  a  linen  duster. 

Then  I  began  wondering  how  much  longer  I  would  dare  lie 
there,  before  the  Orderly  Sergeant  would  draw  me  out  by  the 
heels,  and  accompany  the  operation  with  numerous  unkind  and 
•ulphurous  remarks. 

This  cogitation  was  abruptly  terminated  by  hearing  an 
excited  shout  from  the  Captain : 

"Turn  Out!  —  COMPACT  LI!     TURNOUT!!!" 
Almost  at  the  same  instant  rose  that  shrill,  piercing  Rebel 
yell,  which  one  who  has  once  heard  it  rarely  forgets,  and  thii 
was  followed  by  a  crashing  volley  from  apparently  a  regiment 
of  rifles. 

I  arose  —  promptly. 

There  was  evidently  something  of  more  interest  on  h&nd  than 
the  weather. 

Cap,  overcoat,  boots  and  revolver  belt  went  on,  and  eyes 
opened  at  about  the  same  instant. 

As  I  snatched  up  my  carbine,  I  looked  out  m  front,  and  the 
whole  woods  appeared  to  be  full  of  Rebels,  rushing  toward  us, 
all  yelling  and  some  firing.  My  Captain  and  First  Lieutenant 
had  taken  up  position  on  the  right  front  of  the  tents,  and  part 
of  the  boys  were  running  up  to  form  a  line  alongside  them. 
The  Second  Lieutenant  had  stationed  himself  on  a  knoll  on  the 
left  front,  and  about  a  third  of  the  company  was  rallying 
around  him. 

My  chum  was  a  silent,  sententious  sort  of  a  chap,  and  as  we 
ran  forward  to  the  Captain's  line,  he  remarked  earnestly : 
"Well:  this  beats  hell !" 
I  thought  he  had  a  clear  idea  of  the  situation. 
All  this  occupied  an  inappreciably  short  space  of  time.     The 


Rebels  had  not  stopped  to  reload,  but  were  rushhig  impetuously 
toward  us.  We  gave  them  a  hot,  rolling  volley  from  our  car 
bines.  Many  fell,  more  stopped  to  load  and  reply,  but  the  mass 

...       ,t*^l        .      v\M.,,    .  3r  >.*'— «  JtV,  ' 


L  GATHERING  TO  MEET  THE  REBEL  ATTACX. 


gurged  straight  Ibrward  at  us.  Then  our  fire  grew  so  deadly 
that  they  showed  a  disposition  to  cover  themselves  behind  the 
rocks  and  trees.  Again  they  were  urged  forward,  and  a  body 
of  them  headed  by  their  Colonel,  mounted  on  a  white  horse, 
pushed  forward  through  the  gap  between  us  and  the  Second 
Lieutenant.  The  Kebel  Colonel  dashed  up  to  the  Second  Lieu 
tenant,  and  ordered  him  to  surrender.  The  latter  —  a  gallant 
old  gray  beard  —  cursed  the  Eebel  bitterly  and  snapped  his  now 
empty  revolver  in  his  face.  The  Colonel  fired  and  killed  him, 
whereupon  his  squad,  with  two  of  its  Sergeants  killed  and  half 
its  numbers  on  the  ground,  surrendered. 
The  Rebel*  in  our  front  and  flank  pressed  us  with  equal  close- 


A  iTOBT  OF  BSBEL  MTLITAET  PRIBONB.  65 

ness.  It  seemed  as  if  it  was  absolutely  impossible  to  check 
their  rush  for  an  instant,  and  as  we  saw  the  fate  of  our  com 
panions  the  Captain  gave  the  word  for  every  man  to  look  out 
for  himself.  "We  ran  back  a  little  distance,  sprang  over  the 
fence  into  the  fields,  and  rushed  toward  Town,  the  Rebels  en 
couraging  us  to  make  good  time  by  a  sharp  tire  into  our  backs 
from  the  fence. 

While  we  were  vainly  attempting  to  stem  the  onsst  of  the 
column  dashed  against  123,  better  success  was  sectired  elsewhere. 
Another  column  swept  dowa  the  other  road,  upon  which  there 
was  only  an  outlying  picket.  This  had  to  come  back  on  the 
run  before  the  overwhelming  numbers,  and  the  Rebels  galloped 
straight  for  the  three-inch  Rodman.  Company  M  was  the  first-to 
get  saddled  and  mounted,  and  now  caroe  up  at  a  steady,  swinging 
gallop,  in  two  platoons,  saber  and  revolver  in  hand,  and  led  by 
two  Sergeants  —  Key  and  Me  Wright,  —  printer  boys  from 
Bloomington,  Illinois.  They  divined  the  object  of  the  Rebel 
dash,  and  strained  every  nerve  to  reach  the  gun  first.  The 
Rebels  were  too  near,  and  got  the  gun  and  turned  it.  Before 
they  could  fire  it,  Company  M  struck  them  headlong,  but  they 
took  the  terrible  impact  without  flinching,  and  for  a  few  min 
utes  there  was  fierce  hand-to-hand  work,  with  sword  and  pistol. 
The  Rebel  leader  sank  under  a  half-dozen  simultaneous  wounds, 
and  fell  dead  almost  under  the  gun.  Men  dropped  from 
their  horses  each  instant,  and  the  riderless  steeds  fled  away. 
The  scale  of  victory  was  turned  by  the  Major  dashing  against 
the  Rebel  left  flank  at  the  head  of  Company  I,  and  a  portion  of 
the  artillery  squad.  The  Rebels  gave  ground  slowly,  and  were 
packed  into  a  dense  mass  hi  the  lane  up  which  they  had  charged. 
After  they  had  been  crowded  back,  say  fifty  yards,  word  was 
passed  through  our  men  to  open  to  the  right  and  left  on  the 
sides  of  the  road.  The  artillerymen  had  turned  the  gun  and 
loaded  it  with  a  solid  shot.  Instantly  a  wide  laiie  opened 
through  our  ranks;  the  man  with  the  lanyard  drew  the  fatal 
cord,  fire  burst  from  the  primer  and  the  muzzle,  the  long  gun 
sprang  up  and  recoiled,  and  there  seemed  to  be  a  demoniac  yell  in 
its  ear-splitting  crash,  as  the  heavy  ball  left  the  mouth,  and  tore 
its  bloody  way  through  tluj  bodies  oi  the  struggling  mass  of 
men  and  horses. 


KG  .,,,.,_,,  ,. 

o  s?  ^n  v  wgM*r_i  * 

This  ended  it.  The  Rebels  gave  way  in  disorder,  and  our 
men  fell  back  to  give  the  gun  an  opportunity  to  throw  shell  and 
canister. 

Tke  Rebels  now  saw  that  we  were  net  to  be  run  ever  like  a 
field  of  cornstalks,  and  they  fell  back  to  devise  further  tactics, 
giving  us  a  breathing  spell  to  get  ourselves  in  shape  for  defense. 

The  dullest  could  see  that  w«  were  in  a  desperate  situation. 
Critical  positions  were  no  new  experience  to  us,  as  they  never 
are  to  a  cavalry  command  after  a  few  months  in  the  field,  but, 
though  the  pitcher  goes  often  to  the  well,  it  is  broken  at  last, 
and  our  time  was  evidently  at  hand.  The  narrow  throat  of  the 
Yalley,  through  which  lay  the  road  back  to  the  Gap,  was  held 
by  a  force  of  Rebels  evidently  much  superior  to  our  own,  and 
itrongly  posted.  The  road  was  a  slender,  tortuous  one,  wind 
ing  through  rocks  and  gorges.  Xowhere  was  there  room 
enough  to  move  with  even  a  platoon  front  against  the  enemy, 
and  this  precluded  all  chances  of  cutting  out.  The  best  wo 
could  do  was  a  slow,  difficult  movement,  in  column  of  fours,  and 
this  would  have  been  suicide.  On  the  other  side  of  the  Town 
the  Rebels  were  massed  stronger,  while  to  the  right  and  left 
rose  the  steep  mountain  sides.  We  were  caught  —  trapped  as 
gurely  as  a  rat  ever  was  in  a  wire  trap. 

As  we  learned  afterwards,  a  whole  division  of  cavalry,  under 
command  of  the  noted  Rebel,  Major  General  Sam  Jones,  had 
been  sent  to  effect  our  capture,  to  offset  in  a  measure  Long- 
fctreet's  repulse  at  Knoxville.  A  gross  overestimate  of  our 
numbers  had  caused  the  sending  of  so  large  a  force  on  this 
errand,  and  the  rough  treatment  we  gave  the  two  columns  that 
attacked  us  first  confirmed  the  Rebel  General's  ideas  of  our 
strength,  and  led  him  to  adopt  cautious  tactics,  instead  of  crush 
ing  us  out  speedily,  by  a  determined  advance  of  all  parts  of  his 
encircling  lines. 

The  lull  in  the  fight  did  not  last  long.  A  portion  of  the 
Rebel  line  on  the  east  rushed  forward  to  gain  a  more  com 
manding  position.  We  concentrated  in  that  direction  and 
drove  it  back,  the  Rodman  assisting  with  a  couple  of  well-aimed 
ahells.  This  was  followed  by  a  similar  but  more  successful 
attempt  by  another  part  of  the  Rebel  line,  and  so  it  went  on 
idi  day  —  the  Rebels  rushing  up  first  on  this  side,  and  then  on 


A  8TOEY  OF  REBEL  MJLrTABT  PSIBOWBL  £7 

that,  and  we,  hastily  collecting  at  the  exposed  points,  seeking 
to  drive  them  back.  'We  were  frequently  successful ;  we  were 
on  the  inside,  and  had  the  advantage  of  the  short  interior  lines, 
go  that  our  few  men  and  our  breech-loaders  told  to  a  good  pur 
pose. 

There  were  frequent  crises  in  the  struggle,  that  at  some  times 
gave  encouragement,  but  never  hope.  Once  a  determined  onset 
was  made  from  the  East,  and  was  met  by  the  equally  deter 
mined  resistance  of  nearly  our  whole  force.  Our  fire  was  so 
galling  that  a  large  number  of  our  foes  crowded  into  a  house 
oa  a  knoll,  and  making  loopholes  in  its  walls,  began  replying  to 
us  pretty  sharply.  We  sent  word  to  our  faithful  artillerists, 
who  trained  tbe  gun  upon  the  house.  The  first  shell  screamed 
ever  the  roof,  and  burst  harmlessly  beyond.  "We  suspended  fire 
to  watch  the  next.  It  crashed  through  the  side ;  for  an  instant 
&U  was  deathly  still ;  we  thought  it  had  gone  on  through.  Then 
came  a  roar  and  a  crash ;  the  clapboards  flew  off  the  roof,  and 
smoke  poured  out ;  panic-stricken  Rebels  rushed  from  the  doors 
and  sprang  from  the  windows  —  like  bees  from  a  disturbed 
hive;  the  shell  had  burst  among  the  confined  mass  of  men 
inside!  "We  afterwards  heard  that  twenty-fire  were  killed 
there. 

At  another  time  a  considerable  force  of  Eebels  gained  the 
cover  of  a  fence  in  easy  range  of  our  main  force.  Companies 
L  and  K  were  ordered  to  charge  forward  on  foot  and  dislodge 
them.  Away  we  went,  under  a  fire  that  seemed  to  drop  a  man 
at  every  step.  A  hundred  yards  in  front  of  the  Rebels  was  a 
little  cover,  and  behind  this  our  men  lay  down  as  if  by  one 
impulse.  Then  came  a  close,  desperate  duel  at  short  range.  It 
was  a  question  between  Northern  pluck  and  Southern  courage, 
as  to  which  could  stand  the  most  punishment.  Lying  as  flat 
as  possible  on  the  crusted  snow,  only  raising  the  head  or  body 
enough  to  load  and  aim,  the  men  on  both  sides,  with  their  teeth 
set,  their  glaring  eyes  fastened  on  the  foe,  their  nerves  as  tense 
as  tightly-drawn  steel  wires,  rained  shot  on  each  other  as  fast 
as  excited  hands  could  crowd  cartridges  into  the  guns  and  dis 
charge  them. 

Not  a  word  was  said. 

The  shallower  enthusiasm  that  expresses  itself  in  oaths  and 


58  JLTOERSONYILLE. 

shouts  had  given  way  to  the  deep,  voiceless  rage  or  men  in  a 
death  grapple.  The  Rebel  line  was  a  rolling  torrent  of  flame, 
their  bullets  shrieked  angrily  as  they  flew  past,  they  struck  the 
snow  in  front  of  us,  and  threw  its  cold  flakes  in  faces  that  were 
white  with  the  fires  of  consuming  hate ;  they  buried  themselves 
with  a  dull  thud  in  the  quivering  bodies  of  the  enraged  combat 
ants. 

Minutes  passed ;  they  seemed  hours. 

Would  the  villains,  scoundrels,  hell-hounds,  sons  of  vipers 
never  go  ? 

At  length  a  few  Eebels  sprang  up  and  tried  to  fly.    They 
were  shot  down  instantly. 
Then  the  whole  line  rose  and  ran  I 

The  relief  was  so  great  that  we  jumped  to  onr  feet  and 
cheered  wildly,  forgetting  in  our  excitement  to  make  use  of 
our  victory  by  shooting  down  our  flying  enemies. 

Nor  was  an  element  of  fun  lacking.  A  Second  Lieutenant 
was  ordered  to  take  a  party  of  skirmishers  to  the  top  of  a  MA 
and  engage  those  of  the  Rebels  stationed  on  another  hill-top 
across  a  ravine.  He  had  but  lately  joined  us  from  the  Regular 
Army,  where  he  was  a  Drill  Sergeant.  Naturally,  he  was  very 
methodical  in  his  way,  and  scorned  to  do  otherwise  under  fire 
than  he  would  upon  the  parade  ground.  He  moved  his  little 
command  to  the  hill-top,  in  close  order,  and  faced  them  to  the 
front.  The  Johnnies  received  them  with  a  yell  and  a  volley, 
whereat  the  boys  winced  a  little,  much  to  the  Lieutenant's  dis 
gust,  who  swore  at  them ;  tnen  had  them  count  off  with  great 
deliberation,  and  deployed  them  as  coolly  as  if  there  was  not 
an  enemy  within  a  hundred  miles.  After  the  line  deployed, 
he  "dressed"  it,  commanded  "Front!"  and  "  Begin  firing  !" 
His  attention  was  called  another  way  for  an  instant,  and  when 
he  looked  back  again,  there  was  not  a  man  of  his  nicely  formed 
skirmish  line  visible.  The  logs  and  stones  had  evidently  been 
put  there  for  the  use  of  skirmishers,  the  boys  thought,  and  in 
an  instant  they  availed  themselves  of  their  shelter. 

Never  was  there  an  angrier  man  than  that  Second  Lieutenant ; 
he  brandished  his  saber  and  swore ;  he  seemed  to  feel  that  all 
his  soldierly  reputation  was  gone,  but  the  boys  stuck  to  their 
shelter  for  all  that^  informing  him  that  when  the  Rebels  would 


A  tTOST  Of  ESBEL  imJTJLBY  FXT8ON&  69 

stand  out  in  the  open  field  and  take  their  fire,  they  would  do 
likewise. 

Despite  all  our  efforts,  the  Rebel  line  crawled  up  closer  and 
closer  to  us ;  we  were  driven  back  from  knoll  to  knoll,  and  from 
one  fence  after  another.  "We  had  maintained  the  unequal 
struggle  for  eight  hours ;  over  one-fourth  of  our  number  were 
stretched  upon  the  snow,  killed  or  badly  wounded.  Our  cart 
ridges  were  nearly  all  gone ;  the  cannon  had  fired  its  last  shot 
long  ago,  and  having  a  blank  cartridge  left,  had  shot  the  ram 
mer  at  a  gathering  party  of  the  enemy. 

Just  as  the  Winter  sun  was  going  down  upon  a  day  of  gloom, 
the  bugle  called  us  all  up  on  the  hillside.  Then  the  Rebels  saw 
for  the  first  time  how  few  there  were,  and  began  an  almost 
simultaneous  charge  all  along  the  line.  The  Major  raised  a 
piece  of  a  shelter  tent  upon  a  pole.  The  line  halted.  An  officer 
rode  out  from  it,  followed  by  two  privates. 


THE  MAJOR    EEFTBES  TO   8UE'RENT>E3L 

Approaching  the  Major,  he  said,  "Who  is  in  command  of 
this  force?" 
Tiie  Major  replied :     "  I  am." 


CD  A2TDEB8ONVILLB. 

"Then,  Sir,  I  demand  your  sword." 

"  What  is  your  rank,  sir  ? " 

"  I  am  Adjutant  of  the  Sixty-fourth  Virginia." 

The  punctilious  soul  of  the  old  "  Regular  "  —  for  such  the  Ma 
jor  was  —  swelled  up  instantly,  and  he  answered: 

"  By ,  sir,  I  will  never  surrender  to  my  inferior  in  rank ! * 

The  Adjutant  reined  his  horse  back.  His  two  followers  ler- 
eled  their  pieces  at  the  Major  and  waited  orders  to  fire.  They 
were  covered  by  a  dozen  carbines  in  the  hands  of  our  men.  The 
Adjutant  ordered  his  men  to  "  recover  arms,"  and  rode  away 
with  them.  He  presently  returned  with  a  Colonel,  and  to  him 
the  Major  handed  his  saber. 

As  the  men  realized  what  was  being  done,  the  first  thought 
of  many  of  them  was  to  snatch  out  the  cylinders  of  their  revol 
vers,  and  the  slides  of  their  carbines,  and  throw  them  away,  so 
as  to  make  the  arms  useless. 

"We  were  overcome  with  rage  and  humiliation  at  being  com 
pelled  to  yield  to  an  enemy  whom  we  had  hated  so  bitterly. 
As  we  stood  there  on  the  bleak  mountain-side,  the  biting  wind 
Boughing  through  the  leafless  branches,  the  shadows  of  a 
gloomy  winter  night  closing  around  us,  the  groans  and  shrieki 
of  our  wounded  mingling  ^ith  the  triumphant  yells  of  the 
Rebels  plundering  our  tents,  it  seemed  as  if  Fate  could  press  to 
mcn'i  lips  no  cup  with  bitterer  dregs  in  it  tlian  this. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THl    aEACTION  —  DEPEESSION  —  BITING    COLD  —  BHAKP   HUNQEB  AJTD 
SAD   BEFLECTION 

••  Of  being  taken  by  the  Insolent  foe."— 0ZA<tfa 

The  night  that  followed  was  inexpressibly  dreary.  The  high- 
wrought  nervous  tension,  which  hud  been  protracted  through  the 
long  hours  that  the  tight  lasted,  was  succeeded  by  a  propor 
tionate  mental  depression,  such  as  naturally  follows  any  strain 
upon  the  mind.  This  was  intensified  in  our  cases  by  the  sharp 
sting  of  defeat,  the  humiliation  of  having  to  yield  ourselves, 
our  horses  and  our  arms  into  the  possession  of  the  enemy,  the 
uncertainty  as  to  the  future,  and  the  sorrow  we  felt  at  the  loss 
of  so  many  of  our  comrades. 

Company  L  had  suffered  very  severely,  but  our  chief  regret 
was  for  the  gallant  Osgood,  our  Second  Lieutenant.  He,  above 
all  others,  was  our  trusted  leader.  The  Captain  and  First  Lieu 
tenant  were  brave  men,  and  good  enough  soldiers,  but  Osgood 
was  the  one  "  whose  adoption  tried,  we  grappled  to  our  souls 
with  hooks  of  steel/'  There  was  never  any  difficulty  in  get 
ting  ail  the  volunteers  he  wanted  for  a  scouting  party.  A  quiet, 
pleasimt  spoken  gentleman,  past  middle  age,  he  looked  much 
better  fitted  for  the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace,  to  which  his 
fellow -citizens  of  Urbana,  Illinois,  had  elected  and  re-elected 
him,  than  to  command  a  troop  of  rough  riders  in  a  great  civil 
war.  But  none  more  gallant  than  he  ever  vaulted  into  saddle 
to  do  battle  for  the  right.  He  went  into  the  Army  solely  as  a 
matter  of  principle,  and  did  his  duty  with  the  unflagging  zeal 
of  an  olden  Puritan  fighting  for  liberty  and  his  soul's  salvation. 
lie  was  a  superb  horseman  —  as  all  the  older  Illinoisans  are  — 


C3  ANDEBSONVILLE. 

and,  for  all  his  two-score  years  and  ten,  he  recognized  few 
superiors  for  strength  and  activity  in  the  Battalion.  A  radical, 
uncompromising  Abolitionist,  he  had  frequently  asserted  that 
he  would  rather  die  than  yield  to  a  Rebel,  and  he  kept  his 
word  in  this  as  in  everything  else. 

As  for  him,  it  was  probably  the  way  he  desired  to  die.  No 
one  believed  more  ardently  than  he  that 

Whether  on  the  scaffold  high, 

Or  in  the  battle's  van; 
The  fittest  place  for  man  to  di«, 

!•  where  he  dies  for  man. 

Among  the  many  who  had  lost  chums  and  friends  was  Ned 
Johnson,  of  Company  K.  Ned  was  a  young  Englishman,  with 
much  of  the  suggestiveness  of  the  bull-dog  common  to  the 
lower  class  of  that  nation.  TTis  fist  was  readier  than  his  tongua 
His  chum,  "Walter  Savage  was  of  the  same  surly  type.  The 
two  had  come  from  England  twelve  years  before,  and  had  been 
together  ever  since.  Savage  was  killed  in  the  struggle  for  the 
fence  described  in  the  preceding  chapter.  Ned  could  not  real 
ize  for  a  while  that  his  friend  was  dead.  It  was  only  when  the 
body  rapidly  stiffened  on  its  icy  bed,  and  the  eyes  which  had 
been  gleaming  deadly  hate  when  he  was  stricken  down  were 
glazed  over  with  the  dull  film  of  death,  that  he  believed  he  was 
gone  from  him  forever.  Then  his  rage  was  terrible.  For  the 
rest  of  the  day  he  was  at  the  head  of  every  assault  upon  the 
enemy.  TTis  voice  could  ever  be  heard  above  the  firing,  cursing 
the  Rebels  bitterly,  and  urging  the  boys  to  "  Stand  up  to  'em  I 

Stand  right  up  to  'em !     Don't  give  a inch !     Let  the 

have  the  best  you  got  in  the  shop  1     Shoot  low,  and 

don't  waste  a  cartridge !  " 

When  we  surrendered,  Xed  seemed  to  yield  sullenly  to  the 
inevitable.  He  threw  his  belt  and  apparently  his  revolver  with 
it  upon  the  snow.  A  guard  was  formed  around  us,  and  we 
gathered  about  the  fires  that  were  started.  Ned  sat  apart,  his 
arms  folded,  his  head  upon  his  breast,  brooding  bitterly  upon 
Walter's  death.  A  horseman,  evidently  a  Colonel  or  G-eneral, 
clattered  up  to  give  some  directions  concerning  us.  At  the 
Bound  of  his  voice  Ned  raised  his  head  and  gave  him  a  swift 
glance ;  the  gold  stars  upon  the  Rebel's  collar  led  him  to  believe 


A  8TOBT  OF  REBEL  MTLTTAItT  PRISONS.  63 

that  he  was  the  commander  of  the  enemy.  Ned  sprang  to  his 
feet,  made  a  long  stride  forward,  snatched  from  the  breast  of 
his  overcoat  the  revolver  he  had  been  hiding  there,  cocked  it 


JOHNSO1C  TETING  TO  KILL  THE  REBEL  COLONEL. 

and  leveled  it  at  the  Rebel's  breast.  Before  he  could  pull  thd 
trigger  Orderly  Sergeant  Charles  Bentley,  of  his  Company, 
who  was  watching  him,  leaped  forward,  caught  his  wrist  and 
threw  the  revolver  up.  Others  joined  in,  took  the  weapon 
away,  and  handed  it  over  to  the  officer,  who  then  ordered  us  all 
to  be  searched  for  arms,  and  rode  away. 

All  our  dejection  could  not  make  us  forget  that  we  were 
intensely  hungry.  TVe  had  eaten  nothing  all  day.  The  fight 
began  before  we  had  time  to  get  any  breakfast,  and  of  course 
there  was  no  interval  for  refreshments  during  the  engagement. 
The  Rebels  were  no  better  off  than  we,  having  been  marched 
rapidly  all  night  in  order  to  come  upon  us  by  daylight. 

Late  in  the  evening  a  few  sacks  of  meal  were  given  us,  and 
we  took  tha  first  lesson,  in  an  art.  that  long  and  painful  practice 
afterward  was  to  make  very  familiar  to  us.  WQ  had  nothing 
to  mix  the  meal  in,  and  it  looked  as  if  we  would  have  to  eat  it 


AirDKSfiOlTVTLLE. 

dry,  until  a  happy  thought  struck  some  one  that  our  caps  would 
do  for  kneading  troughs.  At  once  every  cap  was  devoted  to 
this.  Getting  water  from  an  adjacent  spring,  each  man  made 
a  little  wad  of  dough  —  unsalted  —  and,  spreading  it  upon  a  flat 
stone  or  a  chip,  set  it  up  in  front  of  the  fire  to  bake.  As  sooa 
as  it  was  browned  on  one  side,  it  was  pulled  off  the  stone,  and 
the  other  side  turned  to  the  fire.  It  was  a  very  primitive  way 
of  cooking  and  I  became  thoroughly  disgusted  with  it  It  was 
fortunate  for  me  that  I  little  dreamed  that  this  was  the  way  I 
should  have  to  get  my  meals  for  the  next  fifteen  months. 

After  somewhat  of  the  edge  had  been  taken  off  our  hunger 
by  this  food,  we  crouched  around  the  fires,  talked  over  the 
events  of  the  day,  speculated  as  to  what  was  to  be  done  with 
anatchod  such  alosp  AS  the  biting  cold  would  permit. 


CHAPTER  71 

"OW    TO    RTCTTiTOim  t  " MAKCHFN'G    ON    FOOT  OVTCT?  TYTE 

MT    HORSE   HAS    A    NEW    RFDER UNSOPHISTICATED 

OIRL8 DISCUSSING     THE    UBSUE8    OF    THE    WAJK PAJSTLSTG    WITH 

" 

At  dawn  we  were  gathered  together,  more  meal  issued  to 
us,  which  we  cooked  in  the  same  way,  and  then  were  started 
under  heavy  guard  to  march  on  foot  over  the  mountains  ta 
Bristol,  a  station  at  the  point  where  the  Virginia  and  Tennessee 
Kailroad  crosses  the  line  between  Virginia  and  Tennessee. 

As  we  were  preparing  to  set  out  a  Sergeant  of  the  First  Vir 
ginia  cavalry  came  galloping  up  to  us  on  my  horse  1  The  sight 
of  my  faithful  "  Hiatoga  "  bestrid  by  a  Rebel,  wrung  my  heart. 
During  the  action  I  had  forgotten  him,  but  when  it  ceased  I 
began  to  worry  about  his  fata  As  he  and  his  rider  came  near 
I  called  out  to  him ;  he  stopped  and  gave  a  whinny  of  recog 
nition,  which  seemed  aLso  a  plaintive  appeal  for  an  explanation 
of  the  changed  condition  of  affairs. 

The  Sergeant  was  a  pleasant,  gentlemanly  boy  of  about  m^- 
own  age.  lie  rode  up  to  me  and  inquired  if  it  was  iny  horse,  to 
which  i  replied  in  the  aHinnative,  an»i  asked  permission  to  take 
from  the  saddle  pockets  some  letters,  pictures  and  other  trink 
ets.  He  .granted  this,  and  we  became  friends  from  thence  on 
until  we  separated,  lie  rode  by  my  side  as  we  plodded  over 
tke  steep,  slippery  hills,  and  we  beguiled  the  way  by  chatting 
of  the  thousand  things  that  soldiers  rind  to  talk  about,  and  ex 
changed  reminiscences  of  the  service  on  both  sides.  But  the 
subject  he  was  fondest  of  was  that  which.  I  relished  least :  my 
—  now  his  —  horse.  Into  the  open  ulcer  of  my  heart  he  poured 
5 


66  ANDERSON  VTLUE. 

the  acid  of  all  manner  of  questions  concerning  my  lost  steed'g 
qualities  and  capabilities :  would  he  swim  ?  how  was  he  in  ford 
ing  ?  did  he  jump  well  ?  how  did  he  stand  fire  ?  I  smothered 
my  irritation,  and  answered  as  pleasantly  as  I  could. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  third  day  after  the  capture,  we  came 
up  to  where  a  party  of  rustic  belles  were  collected  at  "  quilt 
ing."  The  "  Yankees  "  were  instantly  objects  of  greater  inter 
est  than  the  parade  of  a  menagerie  would  have  been.  The  Ser 
geant  told  the  girls  we  were  going  to  camp  for  the  night  a  mile 
or  so  ahead,  and  if  they  would  be  at  a  certain  house,  he  would 
have  a  Yankee  for  them  for  close  inspection.  After  halting, 
the  Sergeant  obtained  leave  to  take  me  out  with  a  guard,  and 
I  was  presently  ushered  into  a  room  in  which  the  damsels  were 
massed  in  force,  —  a  carnation-cheeked,  staring,  open-mouthed, 
linsey-clad  crowd,  as  ignorant  of  corsets  and  gloves  as  of  lie- 
brew,  and  with  a  propensity  to  giggle  that  was  chronic  and 
irrepressible.  When  we  entered  the  room  there  was  a  general 
giggle,  and  then  a  shower  of  comments  upon  my  appearance, 
—  each  sentence  punctuated  with  the  chorus  of  feminine  cachi- 
nation.  A  remark  was  made  about  iny  hair  and  eyes,  and 
their  risibles  gave  way ;  judgment  was  passed  on  my  nose,  and 
then  came  a  ripple  of  laughter.  I  got  very  red  in  the  face,  and 
uncomfortable  generally.  Attention  was  called  to  the  size  of 
my  feet  and  hands,  and  the  usual  chorus  followed.  Those  use 
ful  members  of  my  body  seemed  to  swell  up  as  they  do  to  a 
young  man  at  his  first  party. 

Then  I  saw  that  in  the  minds  of  these  bucolic  maidens  I  was 
scarcely,  if  at  all,  humac. ;  they  did  not  understand  that  I  bo- 
longed  to  the  race ;  I  was  "  a  Yankee  "  —  a  something  of  the 
non-human  class,  as  the  gorilla  or  the  chimpanzee.  They  felt 
as  free  to  discuss  my  points  before  my  face  as  they  would  to 
talk  of  a  horse  or  a  wild  animal  in  a  show.  My  equanimity 
was  partially  restored  by  this  reflection,  but  I  ^ras  still  too 
young  to  escape  embarrassment  and  irritation  at  being  thus 
dissected  and  giggled  at  by  a  party  of  girls,  even  if  they 
were  ignorant  Virginia  mountaineers. 

I  turned  around  to  speak  to  the  Sergeant,  and  in  so  doing 
showed  my  back  to  the  ladies.  The  hum  of  comment  deepened 
into  surprise,  that  half  stopped  and  then  intensified  tha  gigglo. 


A  BTOST  Off  REBEL  IXILITABY  PEISOKB. 


67 


1  was  puzzled  for  a  minute,  and  then  the  direction  of  their 
glances,  and  their  remarks  explained  it  all.  At  the  rear  of  the 
lower  part  of  the  cavalry  jacket,  about  where  the  upper  orna 
mental  buttons  are  on  the  tail  of  a  frock  coat,  are  two  funny 
tabs,  about  the  size  of  small  pin-cushions.  They  are  fastened 
by  the  edge,  and  stick  out  straight  behind.  Their  use  is  to  sup 
port  the  heavy  belt  in  the  rear,  as  the  buttons  do  in  front. 
When  the  belt  is  off  it  would  puzzle  the  Seven  Wise  Men  to 
guess  what  they  are  for.  The  unsophisticated  young  ladies, 
with  that  swift  intuition  which  is  one  of  lovely  woman's  salient 
mental  traits,  immediately  jumped  at  the  conclusion  that  the 
projections  covered  some  peculiar  conformation  of  the  Yankee 
anatomy  —  some  incipient,  dromedary -like  humps,  or  perchance 
the  horns  of  which  they  had  heard  so  much. 


^l^^*w^^^^fei- 


OIHLB  ASTONISHED  AT  THE  JACKET  TAE3. 

This  anatomical  phenomena  was  discussed  intently  for  a  few 
minutes,  durinir  which  I  heard  one  of  the  girls  inquire  whether 
*it  would  hurt  him  to  cut  'em  off?"  and  another  hazarded  the 
opinion  that  "  it  would  probably  bleed  him  to  death." 


63  ANDEK8ONTILLJS. 

Then  a  new  idea  seized  them,  and  they  said  to  the  Sergeant : 

"  Make  him  sing !     Make  him  sing ! " 

This  was  too  much  for  the  Sergeant,  who  had  been  intensely 
amused  at  the  girls'  wonderment.  He  turned  to  me,  very  red 
in  the  face,  with : 

"  Sergeant :  the  girls  want  to  hear  you  sing." 

I  replied  that  I  could  not  sing  a  note.     Said  he : 

"  Oh,  come  now.  I  know  better  than  that ;  I  never  seed  or 
heerd  of  a  Yankee  that  couldn't  sing." 

I  nevertheless  assured  him  that  there  really  were  some  Yan 
kees  that  did  not  have  any  musical  accomplishments,  and  that 
I  was  one  of  that  unfortunate  number.  I  asked  him  to  get  the 
ladies  to  sing  for  me,  and  to  this  they  acceded  quite  readily. 
One  girl,  with  a  fair  soprano,  who  seemed  to  be  the  leader  of 
the  crowd,  sang  "The  Homespun  Dress,"  a  song  very  popular 
in  the  South,  and  having  the  same  time  as  the  "  Bonnie  Blue 
Flag."  It  began 

I  enry  not  the  Northern  girli 
Their  silks  and  jewels  fine. 

and  proceeded  to  ^compare  the  homespun  habiliments  of  the 
Southern  women  to  the  finery  and  frippery  of  the  ladies  on 
the  other  side  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  in  a  manner  very  dis 
advantageous  to  the  latter. 

The  rest  of  the  girls  made  a  fine  exhibition  of  the  lung-power 
acquired  in  climbing  their  precipitous  mountains,  when  they 
came  in  on  the  chorus  : 

Hurra  !  Enrrm  I  for  Southern  righto  hurra  1 
Hurra,  tor  tne  homespnn  drowi, 
The  Southern  ladle*  wear. 

This  ended  the  entertainment. 

On  our  journey  to  Bristol  we  met  many  "Rebel  soldiers,  of  all 
ranks,  and  a  small  number  of  citizens.  As  the  conscription  had 
then  been  enforced  pretty  sharply  for  over  a  year  the  only 
able-bodied  men  seen  in  civil  life  were  those  who  had  some 
trade  which  exempted  them  from  being  forced  into  active  ser 
vice.  It  greatly  astonished  us  at  first  to  find  that  nearly  all 
the  mechanics  were  included  among  the  exempts,  or  could  be  if 
they  chose ;  but  a  very  little  reflection  showed  us  the  wisdom 
of  such  a  policy  *3iU0  .§4»uth  is  as  nearly  a  purely  agricultural 


A.  STOBY  OF  EEBEL  MUJTAET  PRISONS.  €9 

country  as  is  Kussia  or  South  America.  The  people  have  little 
inclination  or  capacity  for  anything  else  than  pastoral  pursuits. 
Consequently  mechanics  are  very  scarce,  and  manufactories 
much  scarcer.  The  limited  quantity  of  products  of  mechanical 
skill  needed  by  the  people  was  mostly  imported  from  the  North 
or  Europe.  Both  these  sources  of  supply  were  cut  off  by  the 
war,  and  the  country  was  thrown  upon  its  own  slender  manu 
facturing  resources.  To  force  its  mechanics  into  the  army  would 
therefore  be  suicidal.  The  Army  would  gain  a  few  thousand 
men,  but  its  operations  would  be  embarrassed,  if  not  stopped 
altogether,  by  a  want  of  supplies.  This  condition  of  affairs 
reminded  one  of  the  singular  paucity  of  mechanical  skill  among 
the  Bedouins  of  the  desert,  which  renders  the  life  of  a  black 
smith  sacred.  X9  matter  how  bitter  the  feud  between  tribes, 
no  one  will  kill  the  other's  workers  of  iron,  and  instances  are 
told  of  warriors  saving  their  lives  at  critical  periods  by  falling 
on  their  knees  and  making  with  their  garments  an  imitation  of 
the  action  of  a  smith's  bellows. 

All  whom  we  met  were  eager  to  discuss  with  us  the  causes, 
phases  and  progress  of  the  war,  and  whenever  opportunity 
offered  or  could  be  made,  those  of  us  who  were  inclined  to  talk 
were  speedily  involved  in  an  argument  with  crowds  of  soldiers 
aad  citizens.  But,  owing  to  the  polemic  poverty  of  our  oppo 
nents,  the  argument  was  more  in  name  than  in  fact.  Like  all 
people  of  slender  or  untrained  intellectual  powers  they  labored 
under  the  hallucination  that  asserting  was  reasoning,  and  the 
emphatic  reiteration  of  bald  statements,  logic.  The  narrow 
round  which  all  —  from  highest  to  lowest  —  traveled  was  some 
times  comical,  and  sometimes  irritating,  according  to  one's 
mood.  The  dispute  invariably  began  by  their  asking  : 

"Well,  what  are  you  'uns  down  here  a-fightin'  we  'uns  for  ? " 

As  ihis  was  replied  to  the  next  one  followed : 

"  Why  are  you  'uns  takin'  our  niggers  away  from  we  'uns  for  ? n 

Then  came : 

"What  do  you  'uns  put  our  niggers  to  fightin'  we  'uns  for?" 

The  wind-up  always  was :  "  Well,  let  me  tell  you,  sir,  you 
can  never  whip  people  that  are  fighting  for  liberty,  sir." 

Even  General  Giltner.  who  had  achieved  considerable  military 
reputation  as  cornmaiuler  of  a  division  of  Kentucky  cavalry, 


70  ASDXRSOXYILIJL 

seemed  to  be  as  slenderly  furnished  with  logical  ammunition 
as  the  balance,  for  as  he  halted  by  us  he  opened  the  conveys- 
ation  with  the  well-worn  formula : 

"  Well :  what  are  you  7uns  down  here  a-fighting  we  'uns  for  ? " 

The  question  had  become  raspingly  monotonous  to  me,  whom 
he  addressed,  and  I  replied  with  marked  acerbity : 

"  Because  we  are  the  Northern  mudsills  whom  you  affect  to 
despise,  and  we  came  down  here  to  lick  you  into  respecting  us." 

The  answer  seemed  to  tickle  him,  a  pleasanter  light  came  into 
his  sinister  gray  eyes,  he  laughed  lightly,  and  bade  us  a  kindly 
good  day. 

Four  days  after  our  capture  we  arrived  in  Bristol.  The 
guards  who  had  brought  us  over  the  mountains  were  relieved  by 
others,  the  Sergeant  bade  me  good  by,  struck  his  spurs  into 
"  Hiatoga's  "  sides,  and  he  and  my  faithful  horse  were  soon  lost 
to  view  in  the  darkness. 

A  new  and  keener  sense  of  desolation  came  over  me  at  the 
final  separation  from  my  tried  and  true  four-footed  friend,  who 
had  been  my  constant  companion  through  so  many  perils  and 
hardships.  We  had  endured  together  the  Winter's  cold,  the 
dispiriting  drench  of  the  rain,  the  fatigue  of  the  long  march, 
the  discomforts  of  the  muddy  camp,  the  gripings  of  hunger, 
the  weariness  of  the  drill  and  review,  the  perils  of  the  vidette 
post,  the  courier  service,  the  scout  and  the  fight.  We  had 
shared  in  common 

The  whips  and  scorns  of  time, 

The  opprewor'B  wrong,  the  prond  man's  contumely, 

The  insolence  of  office,  and  the  Bporni 

which  a  patient  private  and  his  horse  of  the  unworthy  take ;  we 

had  had  our  frequently  recurring 
rows  with  other  fellows  and  their 
horses,  over  questions  of  prece 
dence  at  watering  places,  and 
grass-plots,  had  had  lively  tilts 
with  guards  of  forage  piles  in  sur 
reptitious  attempts  to  get  addi 
tional  rations,  sometimes  coming 
off  victorious,  and  sometimes  being 

driven  off  ingloriously.     I  had  often  gone  hungry  that  he  might 


A  8TOKT  OF  EEBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS.  71 

have  the  only  ear  of  corn  obtainable.  I  am  not  skilled  enough 
in  horse  lore  to  speak  of  his  points  or  pedigree.  I  only  kiiew 
that  his  strong  limbs  never  failed  me,  and  that  he  was 
always  ready  for  duty  and  ever  willing. 

Now  at  last  our  paths  diverged.  I  was  retired  from  actual 
service  to  a  prison,  and  he  bore  his  new  master  off  to  battle 
against  his  old  friends. 

*         *         *         *         *         *         **«* 

Packed  closely  in  old,  dilapidated  stock  and  box  cars,  as  if 
cattle  in  shipment  to  market,  we  pounded  along  slowly,  and 
apparently  interminably,  toward  the  .Rebel  capital. 

The  railroads  of  the  South  were  already  in  very  bad  condi 
tion.  They  were  never  more  than  passably  good,  even  in  their 
best  estate,  but  now,  with  a  large  part  of  the  skilled  men 
engaged  upon  them  escaped  back  to  the  North,  with  all 
renewal,  improvement,  or  any  but  the  most  necessary  repairs 
stopped  for  three  years,  and  with  a  marked  absence  of  even 
ordinary  skill  and  care  in  their  management,  they  were  as 
aearly  ruined  as  they  could  well  be  and  still  run. 

Oae  of  the  severe  embarrassments  under  which  the  roads 
lat>ored  was  a  lack  of  oil.  There  is  very  little  fatty  matter  of 
aay  kind  in  the  South.  The  climate  and  the  food  plants  do 
aot  favor  the  accumulation  of  adipose  tissue  by  animals,  and 
there  is  no  other  source  of  supply.  Lard  oil  and  tallow  were 
very  scarce  and  held  at  exorbitant  prices. 

Attempts  were  made  to  obtain  lubricants  from  the  peanut 
and  the  cotton  seed.  The  first  yielded  a  fine  bland  oil,  reseia- 
bling  tke  ordinary  grade  of  olive  oil,  but  it  was  entirely  too  ex 
pensive  for  use  in  the  arts.  The  cotton  seed  oil  could  be  pro 
duced  much  cheaper,  but  it  had  in  it  such  a  quantity  of  gummy 
matter  as  to  render  it  worse  than  useless  for  employment  oa 
machinery. 

This  scarcity  of  oleaginous  matter  produced  a  corresponding 
scarcity  of  soap  and  similar  detergents,  but  this  was  a  depriva 
tion  which  caused  the  Rebels,  as  a  whole,  as  little  inconvenience 
as  any  that  they  suffered  from.  I  have  seen  many  thousands 
of  them  who  were  obviously  greatly  in  need  of  soap,  but  if 
they  were  rent  with  any  sneering  .on  that  account  they  con 
cealed  it  with,  marvelous  seli-controL 


72  ABDKRfiONTILLS. 

Hiere  seemed  to  be  a  scanty  supply  of  oil  provided  for  the  loco 
motives,  but  the  cars  had  to  run  with  unlubricated  axles,  and  the 
screaking  and  groaning  of  the  grinding  journals  in  the  dry 
boxes  was  sometimes  almost  deafening,  especially  when  we 
wore  going  around  a  curve. 

Our  engine  went  off  the  wretched  track  several  times,  bat  as 
she  was  not  running  much  faster  than  a  man  could  walk,  the 
worst  consequence  to  us  was  a  severe  jolting.  She  was  small, 
and  was  easily  pried  back  upon  tire  track,  and  sent  again  upon, 
her  wheezy,  straining  way. 

The  depression  which  had  weighed  us  down  for  a  night  and  a 
day  after  our  capture  had  now  been  dueceeded  by  a  more  cheer 
ful  feeling.  We  began  to  look  upon  our  condition  as  the  for 
tune  of  war.  We  were  proud  of  our  resistance  to  overwhelm 
ing  numbers.  We  knew  we  had  sold  ourselves  at  a  price  which, 
if  the  Rebels  had  it  to  do  over  again,  they  would  not  pay  for 
ua.  We  believed  that  we  had  killed  and  seriously  wounded  as 
many  of  them  as  they  had  killed,  wounded  aad  captured  of  ua, 
We  had  nothing  to  blame  ourselves  for.  Moreover,  we  begair 
to  be  buoyed  up  with  the  expectation  that  we  would  be  ex 
changed  immediately  upon  our  arrival  at  Richmond,  and  the 
Rebel  officers  confidently  assured  its  that  this  woold  be  so. 
There  was  then  a  temporary  hitch  in  the  exchange,  but  it  would 
aH  be  straightened  out  in  a  few  days,  and  it.  might  not  be  a 
month  until  we  were  again  marching  out  of  Cumberland  Gap, 
on  an  avenging  foray  against  some  of  the  force  which  had  assisted 
in  our  capture. 

Fortunately  for  this  delusive  hopefulness  there  was  no  weird 
and  boding  Cassandra  to  pierce  the  veil  of  the  future  for  us, 
and  reveal  the  length  and  the  ghastly  horror  of  the  Valley  of 
the  Shadow  of  Death,  through  which  we  must  pass  for  hun 
dreds  of  sad  days,  stretching  out  into  long  months  of  suffering 
and  death.  Happily  there  was  no  one  to  tell  us  that  of  every 
fiv«  in  that  party  four  would  never  stand  under  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  again,  but  succumbing  to  chronic  star  ration,  long-con- 
taued  exposure,  the  bullet  of  the  brutal  guard,  the  loathsome 
gcnrvy,  the  hideous  gangrene,  and  the  hcartsickness  of  hope 
deferred,  would  find  respite  from  pain  low  in  the  barren  sands 
of  that  hungry  Southern  soiL 


A  STOET  OF  EEBEL  MIUTAST  PBI80NS.  3 

"Were  every  doom  foretokened  by  appropriate  omens,  the 
ravens  along  our  route  would  have  croaked  themselves  hoarse. 

But,  far  from  being  oppressed  by  any  presentiment  of  com 
ing  evil,  we  began  to  appreciate  and  enjoy  the  picturesque 
grandeur  of  the  scenery  through  which  we  were  moving.  Th« 
rugged  sternness  of  the  Appalachian  mountain  range,  in  whose 
rock-ribbed  heart  we  had  fought  our  losing  fight,  was  now  soft 
ening  into  less  strong,  but  more  graceful  outlines  as  we  ap 
proached  the  pine-clad,  sandy  plains  of  the  seaboard,  upon 
which  Richmond  is  built.  WQ  were  skirting  along  the  easier* 
base  of  the  great  Blue  Ridge,  about  whose  distant  aad  lofty 
summits  hung  a  perpetual  veil  of  deep,  dark,  but  translucent 
blue,  which  refracted  the  slanting  rays  of  the  morning  and 
evening  sun  into  masses  of  color  more  gorgeous  than  a  dreamer's 
vision  of  an  enchanted  land.  At  Lynchburg  we  saw  the  famed 
Peaks  of  Otter  —  twenty  miles  away  —  lifting  their  proud 
heads  far  into  the  clouds,  like  giant  watch-towers  sentineling 
the  gateway  that  the  mighty  waters  of  the  James  had  forced 
through  the  barriers  of  solid  adamant  lying  across  their  path  to 
the  far-off  sea.  What  we  had  seen  many  miles  back  start  from 
the  mountain  sides  as  slender  rivuleis,  brawling  over  the  worn 
boulders,  were  now  great,  rushing,  full-tide  streams,  enough  of 
them  in  any  fifty  miles  of  our  journey  to  furnish  water  power 
for  all  the  factories  of  New  England.  Their  amazing  opulence 
of  mechanical  energy  has  lain  unutilized,  almost  unnoticed,  in 
the  two  and  one-half  centuries  that  the  white  man  has  dwelt 
near  them,  while  in  Massachusetts  and  her  near  neighbors  every 
rill  that  can  turn  a  wheel  has  been  put  into  harness  and  forced 
to  do  its  share  of  labor  for  the  benefit  of  the  men  who  have 
made  themselves  its  masters. 

Here  is  one  of  the  differences  between  the  two  sections :  In 
the  North  man  was  set  free,  and  the  elements  made  to  do  his 
work.  In  the  South  man  was  the  degraded  slave,  and  the  ele 
ments  wantoned  on  in  undisturbed  freedom. 

As  we  went  on,  the  Valleys  of  the  James  and  the  Appomat- 
tox,  down  which  our  way  lay,  broadened  into  an  expanse  of 
arable  acres,  and  the  faces  of  those  streams  y»rere  frequently 
flecked  by  gem-like  little  islands 


CHAPTEK  VIL 

ENTERING      RICHMOND DISAPPOINTMENT      AT     ITS     APPEAR  AWOE  — 

EVERYBODY  IN  UNIFORM CURLED  DARLINGS    OF    THE    CAPITAL 

THE    REBEL    FLAG LIBBT    PRISON DICK     TURNER SEARCHING 

THE  NEW  COMERS. 

Early  on  the  tenth  morning  after  our  capture  we  were  told 
that  we  were  about  to  enter  Richmond.  Instantly  all  were 
keenly  observant  of  every  detail  in  the  surroundings  of  a  City 
that  was  then  the  object  of  the  hopes  and  fears  of  thirty-five 
millions  of  people  —  a  City  assailing  which  seventy -five  thou 
sand  brave  men  had  already  laid  down  their  lives,  defending 
which  an  equal  number  had  died,  and  which,  before  it  fell,  waa 
to  cost  the  life  blood  of  another  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
Taliant  assailants  and  defenders. 

80  much  had  been  said  and  written  about  Richmond  that 
our  boyish  minds  had  wrought  up  the  most  extravagant  expect 
ations  of  it  and  ics  defenses.  We  anticipated  seeing  a  City  dif 
fering  widely  from  anything  ever  seen  before ;  some  anomaly 
of  nature  displayed  in  its  site,  itself  guarded  by  imposing  and 
impregnable  fortifications,  with  powerful  forts  and  heavy  guns, 
perhaps  even  walls,  castles,  postern  gates,  moats  and  ditches, 
and  all  the  other  panoply  of  defensive  warfare,  with  which 
romantic  history  had  made  us  familiar. 

"We  were  disappointed  —  badly  disappointed  —  in  seeing 
nothing  of  this  as  we  slowly  rolled  along.  The  spires  and  the 
tall  chimneys  of  the  factories  rose  in  the  distance  very  much  as 
they  had  in  other  Cities  we  had  visited.  We  passed  a  single 
line  of  breastworks  of  bare  yellow  sand,  but  the  scrubby  pinea 


4  BTOET  OF  REBEL  MILITJLRY  FB1BOK3. 


75 


in  front  were  not  cut  away,  and  there  were  no  signs  that  there 
had  ever  been  any  immediate  expectation  of  use  for  the  works. 
A  redoubt  or  two  —  without  guns  —  could  be  made  out,  and 
this  was  all  Grim-visaged  war  had  few  wrinkles  on  his  front 


AS  EAST  TENNESSEEAH. 

in  that  neighborhood.  They  were  then  seaming  his  brow  on 
the  Rappahannock,  seventy  miles  away,  where  the  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia  and  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  lay  confront 
ing  each  other. 

At  one  of  the  stopping  places  I  had  been  separated  from  my 
companions  oy  entering  a  car  in  which  were  a  number  of  East 


73  UTOEBSOWYILLB. 

Tennesseeans,  captured  in  the  operations  aronnd  ILnornBe,  and 
whom  the  Rebels,  in  accordance  with  their  usual  custom,  were 
treating  with  studied  contumely.  I  had  always  had  a  v«ry 
warm  side  for  these  simple  rustics  of  the  mountains  and  valleys. 
I  knew  much  of  their  unwavering  fidelity  to  the  Union,  of  the 
firm  steadfastness  with  which  they  endured  persecution  for  their 
country's  sake,  and  made  sacrifices  even  unto  death ;  and,  as 
in  those  days  I  estimated  all  men  simply  by  their  devotion  to 
the  great  cause  of  National  integrity,  (a  habit  that  still  clings 
to  me)  I  rated  these  men  very  highly.  '  I  had  gone  into  their 
oar  to  do  my  little  to  encourage  them,  and  when  I  attempted 
to  return  to  my  own  I  was  prevented  by  the  guard. 

Crossing  the  long  bridge,  our  train  came  to  a  halt  on  the 
other  side  of  the  river  with  the  usual  clamor  of  bell  and  whistle, 
the  usual  seemingly  purposeless  and  vacillating,  almost  dizzying, 
running  backward  and  forward  on  a  network  of  sidetracks  and 
switches,  that  seemed  unavoidably  necessary,  a  dozen  years  ago, 
in  getting  a  train  into  a  City. 

Still  unable  to  regain  my  comrades  and  share  their  fortunes, 
I  was  marched  off  with  the  Tennesseeans  through  the  City  to 
the  office  of  some  one  who  had  charge  of  the  prisoners  of  war. 

The  streets  we  passed  through  were  lined  with  retail  stores, 
in  which  business  was  being  carried  on  very  much  as  in  peaceful 
times.  Many  people  were  on  the  streets,  but  the  greater  part 
of  the  men  wore  some  sort  of  a  uniform.  Though  numbers  of 
these  were  in  active  service,  yet  the  wearing  of  a  military  garb 
did  not  necessarily  imply  this.  Nearly  every  able-bodied  man 
in  Richmond  was  enrolled  in  some  sort  of  an  organization,  and 

O  " 

armed,  and  drilled  regularly.  Even  the  members  of  the  Con 
federate  Congress  were  uniformed  and  attached,  in  theory  at 
least,  to  the  Home  Guards. 

It  was  obvious  even  to  the  casual  glimpse  of  a  passing  prisoner 
of  war,  that  the  City  did  not  lacK  its  full  share  of  the  class 
which  formed  so  large  an  element  of  the  society  of  Washington 
and  other  Northern  Cities  during  the  war  —  the  dainty  carpet 
soldiers,  heros  of  the  promenade  and  the  boudoir,  who  strutted 
in  uniforms  when  the  enemy  was  far  off,  and  wore  citizen*s 
clothes  when  he  was  close  at  hand.  There  were  many  curled 
(Lulings  displaying  their  fine  forms  in  the  nattiest  of  uniforms. 


A  BTOBT  OF  RIBEL 


PRISONS. 


77 


whose  gloss  had  never  suffered  from  so  much  as  a  heavy  dew, 
let  alone  a  rainy  day  on  the  march.  The 
Confederate  gray  could  be  made  into  a  very 
dressy  garb.  With  the  sleeves  lavishly  em 
broidered  with  gold  lace,  and  the  collar 
decorated  with  stars  indicating  the  wearer's 
rank  —  silver  for  the  field  officers,  and 
gold  for  the  higher  grade,  —  the  feet  com 
pressed  into  high-heeled,  high-instepped 
boots,  (no  Virginian  is  himself  without  a  fine 
pair  of  skin-tight  boots)  and  the  head  cov 
ered  with  a  fine,  soft,  broad-brimmed  hat, 
trimmed  with  a  gold  cord,  from  which  a 
bullion  tassel  dangled  several  inches  down 
the  wearer's  back,  you  had  a  military  swell, 
caparisoned  for  conquest  —  among  the  fair 
sex. 

O*\  our  way  we  passed  the  noted  Capitol  of  Virginia  —  a 
haiitiome  marble  building,  of  the  column-fronted  Grecian  tem 
ple  style.  It  stands  in  the  center  of  the  City.  Upon  the 
grounds  is  Crawford's  famous  equestrian  statue  of  Washington, 
surrounded  by  smaller  statues  of  other  Revolutionary  patriots, 
The  Confederate  Congress  was  then  in  session  in  the  Capitol, 
and  also  the  Legislature  of  Virginia,  a  fact  indicated  by  the 
State  flag  of  Virginia  floating  from  the  southern  end  of  the 
building,  and  the  new  flag  of  the  Confederacy  from  the  northern 
end.  This  was  the  first  time  I 
had  seen  the  latter,  which  had 
been  recently  adopted,  and  I 
examined  it  with  some  interest. 
The  design  was  exceedingly 
plain.  It  was  simply  a  white 
banner,  with  a  red  field  in  the 
corner  where  the  blue  field  with  stars  is  in  ours.  The  two  blue 
stripes  were  drawn  diagonally  across  this  field  in  the  shape  of  a 
letter  X,  and  in  these  were  thirteen  white  stars,  correspond 
ing  to  the  number  of  States  claimed  to  be  HI  the  Confederacy. 
The  above  diagram  will  show  the  design. 
The  battle-flag  was  simply  the  red  field.  My 


TM  urn. 


73 

tkrn  of  all  this  was  necessarily  very  brief.  The  guards  felt  that 
I  was  in  Richmond  for  other  purposes  than  to  study  architect 
ure,  statuary  and  heraldry,  and  besides  they  were  in  a  hurry  to 
be  relieved  of  us  and  get  their  breakfast,  so  my  art-education 
was  abbreviated  sharply. 

We  did  not  excite  much  attention  on  the  streets.  Prisoners 
had  by  that  time  become  too  common  in  Richmond  to  create 
any  interest.  Occasionally  passers  by  would  fling  opprobrious 
epithets  at  "  the  East  Tennessee  traitors,"  but  that  was  alL 

The  commandant  of  the  prisons  directed  the  Tennesseeans  to 
be  taken  to  Castle  Lightning  —  a  prison  used  to  confine  the 
Rebel  deserters,  among  whom  they  also  classed  the  East  Ten 
nesseeans,  and  sometimes  the  "West  Virginians,  Kentuckians, 
Marylanders  and  Missourians  found  fighting  against  them. 
Such  of  our  men  as  deserted  to  them  were  also  lodged  there, 
as  the  Rebels,  very  properly,  did  not  place  a  high  estimate  upon 
this  class  of  recruits  to  their  army,  and,  as  we  shall  see  farther 
along,  violated  all  obligations  of  good  faith  with  them,  by  put 
ting  them  among  the  regular  prisoners  of  war,  so  as  to  exchange 
them  for  their  own  men. 

Back  we  were  all  marched  to  a  street  which  ran  parallel  to 
the  river  and  canal,  and  but  one  square  away  from  them.  It 
was  lined  on  both  sides  by  plain  brick  warehouses  and  tobacco 
factories,  four  and  five  stories  high,  which  were  now  used  by 
the  Rebel  Government  as  prisons  and  military  storehouses. 

The  first  we  passed  was  Castle  Thunder,  of  bloody  repute. 
This  occupied  the  same  place  in  Confederate  history,  that  the 
dungeons  beneath  the  level  of  the  water  did  in  the  annals  of 
the  Venetian  Council  of  Ten.  It  was  believed  that  if  the  bricks 
in  its  somber,  dirt-grimed  walls  could  speak,  each  could  tell  a 
separate  story  of  a  life  deemed  dangerous  to  the  State  that  had 
gone  down  in  night,  at  the  behest  of  the  ruthless  Confederate 
authorities.  It  was  confidently  asserted  that  among  the  com 
moner  occurrences  within  its  confines  was  the  stationing  of  a 
doomed  prisoner  against  a  certain  bit  of  blood-stained,  bullet, 
chipped  wall,  and  relieving  the  Confederacy  of  all  farther  fear 
of  him  by  the  rifles  of  a  firing  party.  How  well  this  dark  rep 
utation  was  deserved,  no  one  but  those  inside  the  inner  circle  of 
the  Davis  Government  can  say.  It  is  safe  to  believe  that  more 


A  BTQBT  OJ  REBEL  lULITABY  PRISONS.  79 

tragedies  were  enacted  there  than  the  archives  of  the  Rebel 
civil  or  military  judicature  give  any  account  of.  The  prison 
was  employed  for  the  detention  of  spies,  and  those  charged 
with  the  convenient  allegation  of  "  treason  against  the  Confed 
erate  States  of  America."  It  is  probable  that  many  of  these 
were  sent  out  of  the  world  with  as  little  respect  for  the  formal 
ities  of  law  as  was  exhibited  with  regard  to  the  suspects  during 
the  French  Revolution. 

Next  we  came  to  Castle  Lightning,  and  here  I  bade  adien  to 
my  Tennessee  companions. 

A  few  squares  more  and  we  arrived  at  a  warehouse  larger 
than  any  of  the  others.  Over  the  door  was  a  sign : 


THOMAS  LIBBY  &  SON, 

SHIP  CHANDLERS  AND  GROCERS. 


This  was  the  notorious  "  Libby  Prison,"  whose  name  was 
painfully  familiar  to  every  Union  man  in  the  land.  Under  the 
sign  was  a  broad  entrance  way,  large  enough  to  admit  a  dray 
or  a  small  wagon.  On  one  side  of  this  was  the  prison  office,  in 
which  were  a  number  of  dapper,  feeble-faced  clerks  at  work  on 
the  prison  records. 

As  I  entered  this  space  a  squad  of  newly  arrived  prisoners 
were  being  searched  for  valuables,  and  having  their  names, 
rank  and  regiment  recorded  in  the  books.  Presently  a  clerk 
addressed  as  "  Majah  Tunnah,"  the  man  who  was  superintend 
ing  these  operations,  and  I  scanned  him  with  increased  interest, 
as  I  knew  then  that  he  was  the  ill-famed  Dick  Turner,  hated 
all  over  the  JSTorth  for  his  brutality  to  our  prisoners. 

He  looked  as  if  he  deserved  his  reputation.  Seen  upon  the 
street  he  would  be  taken  for  a  second  or  third  class  gambler,  one 
in  whom  a  certain  amount  of  cunning  is  pieced  out  by  a  readi 
ness  to  use  brute  force.  Ilis  face,  clean-shaved,  except  a 
"  Bowery-b'hoy  "  goatee,  was  white,  fat,  and  selfishly  sensuaL 
Small,  pig-like  eyes,  set  close  together,  glanced  around  contin- 
nally.  His  legs  were  short,  his  body  long,  and  made  to  appea* 


GO 


ANDERSOHTILLE. 


stlfl  longer,  by  hi*  wearing  no  vest  —  a  custom  common  then 
•with  Southerners. 

His  faculties  TV  ere  at  that  moment  absorbed  in  seeing  that  no 
person  concealed  any  money  from  him.  His  subordinates  did 
not  search  closely  enough  to  suit  him,  and  he  would  run  his  fat, 
heavily-ringed  fingers  through  the  prisoner's  hair,  feel  under  their 
arms  and  elsewhere  where  he  thought  a  stray  five  dollar  green 
back  might  be  concealed.  But  with  all  his  greedy  care  he  was 
no  match  for  Yankee  cunning.  The  prisoners  told  me  after- 
ivard  that,  suspecting  they  would  be  searched,  they  had  taken 
off  the  caps  of  the  large,  hollow  brass  buttons  of  their  coats, 
carefully  folded  a  bill  into  each  cavity,  and  replaced  the  cap. 
La  tiiis  way  they  brought  in  several  hundred  dollars  safely. 


TTTRNKR  IN  QUEST  OF  BRITISH  GOLD. 

There  was  one  dirty  old  Englishman  in  the  party,  who.  Tur 
ner  was  convinced,  had  money  concealed  about  liis  person.  Ra 
compelled  him  to  strip  oil  everything,  and  stand  shivering  in 
the  sharp  cold,  while  he  took  up  one  filthy  rag  after  another, 
felt  over  each  carefully,  and  scrutinized  each  seam  and  fold.  I 


A  8TOBT  OF  REBEL  MTLITABY  PRISONS.  81 

was  delighted  to  see  that  after  all  his  nauseating  work  he  did 
ttot  find  so  much  as  a  live  cent  piece. 

It  caane  my  turn.  I  had  no  desire,  in  that  frigid  atmosphere, 
to  atrip  down  to  what  Artomus  Ward  called  "  the  skanderlous 
costoorn  of  the  Greek  Slave, •'  so  I  pulled  out  of  my  pocket  my 
tittle  store  of  wealth  —  ten  dollars  in  greenbacks,  sixty  dollars 
in  Confederate  graybacks —  and  displayed  it  as  Turner  came  up 
with,  "There's  all  I  have,  sir."  Turner  pocketed  it  without  a 
word,  and  did  not  search  me.  In  after  months,  when  I  was 
nearly  famished,  my  estimation  of  "  Majali  Tunnah  "  was  hardly 
enlianced  by  the  reflection1  that  what  would  have  purchased  me 
many  good  meals  was  probably  lost  by  him  in  betting  on  a  pair 
of  queens,  when  his  opponent  held  a  "king  full." 

I  ventured  to  step  into  the  office  to  inquire  after  my  com 
rades.  One  of  the  whey-faced  clerks  said  with  the  super 
cilious  asperity  characteristic  of  gnat-brained  headquarter 
attaches: 

"  Get  out  of  here  1  " 

as  if  I  had  been  a  stray  cur  wandering  in  in  search  of  a  bona 
lunch. 

I  wanted  to  feed  the  fellow  to  a  pile-driver.  The  utmost  I 
could  hope  for  in  the  way  of  revenge  was  that  the  delicate 
creature  might  some  day  make  a  mistake  in  parting  his  hair, 
and  catch  his  death  of  cold. 

The  guard  conducted  us  across  the  street,  and  into  the  third 
story  of  a  building  standing  on  the  next  corner  below.  Here 
I  found  about  four  hundred  men,  mostly  belonging  to  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac,  who  crowded  around  me  with  the  usual  ques 
tions  to  new  prisoners :  What  was  my  Kegiment,  where  and 
when  captured,  and 

What  were  the  prospects  of  exch  ange  ? 

It  makes  me  shudder  now  to  recall  how  often,  during  the 
dreadful  months  that  followed,  this  momentous  question  was 
eagerly  propounded  to  every  new  comer:  put  with  bated 
breath  by  men  to  whom  exchange  meant  all  that  they  asked  of 
this  world,  and  possibly  of  the  next;  meant  life,  home,  wife  or 
sweet-heart,  friends,  restoration  to  iranhood,  and  self-respect  — • 
everything,  ewything  that  makes  existence  in  this  world,  worth 
having.  . 


63  ANDEIC8ONYILLE. 

I  answered  as  simply  and  discouragingly  as  did  the  tens  of 
thousands  that  came  after  me : 

"  I  did  not  hear  anything  about  exchange." 

A  soldier  in  the  field  had  many  other  things  of  more  imme 
diate  interest  to  think  about  than  the  exchange  of  prisoners. 
The  question  only  became  a  living  issue  when  he  or  some  of  his 
intimate  friends  fell  into  the  enemy's  hands. 

Thus  began  my  first  day  in  prisoi   ' 


CHAPTER  VIIL 


EITRODTTCTION  TO  PRISON  LIFE THE    PEitBERTON    BUILDING  AND    ITS 

OCCUPANTS NEAT    6AILOR3 ROLL    CALL RATIONS    A£fD  CLOTH- 


I  began  acquainting  myself  with  my  new  situation  and  sur 
roundings.  The  building  into  which  I  had  been  conducted  was 
an  old  tobacco  factory,  called  the  "  Pemberton  building,"  pos 
sibly  from  an  owner  of  that  name,  and  standing  on  the  corner 
of  what  I  was  told  were  Fifteenth  and  Carey  streets.  In  front 
it  was  four  stories  hi^h  ;  behind  but  three,  owing  to  the  rapid 
rise  of  the  hill,  against  which  it  was  built. 

It  fronted  towards  the  James  Rivei  ajid  Kanawha  Canal,  and 
the  James  River  —  both  lying  side  by  side,  and  only  one  hun 
dred  yards  distant,  with  no  intervening  buildings.  The  front 
windows  afforded  a  fine  view.  To  the  right  front  was  Libby, 
with  its  ofuards  pacing  around  i*  on  the  sidewalk,  watching  the 
fifteen  hundred  officers  coniinea  ^ithin  its  walls.  At  intervals 
during  e«?h  *]ay  squads  of  fresh  prisoners  could  be  seen  entering 
its  dark  mouth,  to  be  registered  and  searched,  and  then  marched 
off  to  the  prison  assigned  them.  We  could  see  up  the  James 
River  for  a  mile  or  so,  to  where  the  long  bridges  crossing  it 
bounded  \^j?  VKJW.  Directly  in  front,  across  the  river,  was  a 
flat,  sand>  plain,  said  to  be  General  TVinfield  Scott's  farm, 
and  now  used  as  a  proving  ground  for  the  guns  cast  at  the 
."Tredegar  Iron  Works. 

The  view  down  the  river  was  very  fine.  It  extended  about 
twelve  miles,  to  where  a  gap  in  the  woods  seemed  to  indicate  a 
iort,  which  we  imagined  to  be  Fort  Darling,  at  that  time  the 
[principal  fortification  defending  tiio  passage  of  the  Jaincs* 


tti 


Between  that  point  and  where  we  were  lay  the  river,  in  a  long, 
broad  mirror-like  expanse,  like  a  pretty  little  inland  lake.  Occa 
sionally  a  busy  little  tug  would  bustle  up  or  down,  a  gunboat  move 
along  with  noiseless  dignity,  suggestive  of  a  reserved  power,  or 
a  schooner  beat  lazily  from  one  side  to  the  other.  But 
these  were  so  few  as  to  make  even  more  pronounced  the  cus 
tomary  idleness  that  hung  over  the  scene.  The  tug's  activity 
seemed  spasmodic  and  forced  —  a  sort  of  protest  against  the 
gradually  increasing  lethargy  that  reigned  upon  the  bosom  of 
the  waters  —  the  gunboat  floated  along  as  if  performing  a  per 
functory  duty,  and  the  schooners  sailed  about  as  if  tired  of 
remaining  in  one  place.  That  little  stretch  of  water  was  all 
that  was  left  for  a  cruising  ground.  Beyond  Fort  Darling  the 
Union  gunboats  lay,  and  the  only  vessel  that  passed  the  barrier 
was  the  occasional  flag-of-truce  steamer. 

The  basement  of  the  building  was  occupied  as  a  store-house 
for  the  taxes-in-kind  which  the  Confederate  Government  col 
lected.  On  the  first  floor  were  about  five  hundred  men.  On 
the  second  floor  —  where  I  was  —  were  about  four  hundred  men. 
These  were  principally  from  the  First  Division,  First  Corps  — 
distinguished  by  a  round  red  patch  on  their  caps ;  First  Division, 
Second  Corps,  marked  by  a  red  clover  leaf ;  and  the  First  Divi- 


BARNAOL1&-BAOK3  DISCOURAGING  A  VISIT  FROM  A  8OLDFEB. 

con,  Third  Corps,  who  wore  a  red  diamond.     They  were  mainly 
captured  at  Gettysburg  and  Mine  Run.   Besides  these  there  was  a 


A  8TOXT  07  REBEL  MTLITAEY   PRISONS.  85 

considerable  number  from  the  Eighth  Corps,  captured  at  "Win 
chester,  and  a  large  infusion  of  Cavalry — First,  Second  and  Third 
West  Virginia —  taken  in  Averill's  desperate  raid  up  the  Vir 
ginia  Valley,  with  the  Wytheville  Salt  Works  as  an  objective. 

On  the  third  floor  were  about  two  hundred  sailors  and  ma 
rines,  taken  in  the  gallant  but  luckless  assault  upon  the  ruins  of 
Fort  Sumter,  in  the  September  previous.  They  retained  the 
discipline  of  the  ship  in  their  quarters,  kept  themselves  trim  and 
clean,  and  their  floor  as  white  as  a  ship's  deck.  They  did  not 
court  the  society  of  the  "sojers"  below,  whose  camp  ideas  oi 
neatness  differed  from  theirs.  A  few  old  barnacle-backs  always 
sat  on  guard  around  the  head  of  the  steps  leading  from  the 
lower  rooms.  They  chewed  tobacco  enormously,  and  kept  their 
mouths  filled  with  the  extracted  juice.  Any  luckless  "  sojer  " 
who  attempted  to  ascend  the  stairs  usually  returned  in  haste, 
to  avoid  the  deluge  of  the  filthy  liquid. 

For  convenience  in  issuing  rations  we  were  divided  into 
messes  of  twenty,  each  mess  electing  a  Sergeant  as  its  head, 
and  each  floor  electing  a  Sergeant-of -the- Floor,  who  drew 
rations  and  enforced  what  little  discipline  was  observed. 

Though  we  were  not  so  neat  as  the  sailors  above  us,  we  tried 
to  keep  our  quarters  reasonably  clean,  and  we  washed  the  floor 
every  morning,  getting  down  on  our  knees  and  rubbing  it  clean 
and  dry  with  rags.  Each  mess  detailed  a  man  each  day  to 
wash  up  the  part  of  the  floor  it  occupied,  and  he  had  to  do  this 
properlv  or  no  ration  would  be  given  him.  While  the  washing 
np  was  going  on  each  man  stripped  himself  and  made  close 
examination  of  his  garments  for  the  body-lice,  which  otherwise 
would  have  increased  beyond  control.  Blankets  were  also  care 
.fully  hunted  over  for  these  "  small  deer.-' 

About  eight  o'clock  a  spruce  little  lisping  Rebel  named  Ross 
would  appear  with  a  book,  and  a  body-guard,  consisting  of  a  big 
Irishman,  who  had  the  air  of  a  Policeman,  and  carried  a  musket 
barrel  made  into  a  cane.  Behind  him  were  two  or  three  armed 
guards.  The  Sergeant-of-the-Floor  commanded  : 

"  Fall  in  in  four  ranks  for  roll-call." 

We  formed  along  one  side  of  the  room  ;  the  guards  halted  at 
the  head  of  the  stairs ;  Ross  walked  down  in  front  and  counted 
the  files,  closely  followed  by  his  Irish  aid,  with  his  gun-barrel 


cane  raised  ready  for  use  upon  any  one  who  should  arouse  his 
ruffianly  ire.  Breaking  ranks  we  returned  to  our  places,  and 
sat  around  in  moody  silence  for  three  hours.  We  had  eaten 


BOSS  CALLING  THE  BOLL, 

nothing  since  the  previous  noon.  Rising  hungry,  our  hunger 
seemed  to  increase  in  arithmetical  ratio  with^every  quarter  of 
an  hour. 

These  times  afforded  an  illustration  of  the  thorough  subjection 
of  man  to  the  tyrant  Stomach.  A  more  irritable  lot  of  individuals 
could  scarcely  be  found  outside  of  a  menagerie  than  these  men 
during  the  hours  waiting  for  rations.  "  Grosser  than  two  sticks  n 
utterly  failed  as  a  comparison.  They  were  crosser  than  the 
lines  of  a  check  apron.  Many  could  have  given  odds  to  the 
traditional  bear  with  a  sore  head,  and  run  out  of  the  game  fifty 
points  ahead  of  him.  It  was  astonishingly  easy  to  get  up  a, 
fight  at  these  times.  There  was  no  need  of  going  a  step  out  of1 
the  way  to  search  for  it,  as  one  could  have  a  full  fledged 


A  8TOET  OF  REBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS.  87 

article  of  overwhelming  size  on  his  hands  at  any  instant,  by 
a  trifling  indiscretion  of  speech  or  manner.  All  the  old  irri 
tating  flings  between  the  cavalry,  the  artillery  and  the  infantry, 
the  older  u  first-call  "  men,  and  the  later  or  "  Three-Hundred- 
Dollar-men,"  as  they  were  derisively  dubbed,  between  the 
different  corps  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  between  men  of 
different  States,  and  lastly  between  the  adherents  and  oppo 
nents  of  McClellan,  came  to  the  lips  and  were  answered  by 
a  blow  with  the  fist,  when  a  ring  would  be  formed  around 
the  combatants  by  a  crowd,  which  would  encourage  them  with 
yells  to  do  their  best.  In  a  few  minutes  one  of  the  parties  to 
the  fistic  debate,  who  found  the  point  raised  by  him  not  well 
taken,  would  retire  to  the  sink  to  wash  the  blood  from  his  bat 
tered  face,  and  the  rest  would  resume  their  seats  and  glower  at 
space  until  some  fresh  excitement  roused  them.  For  the  last 
hour  or  so  of  these  long  waits  hardly  a  word  would  be  spoken. 
We  were  too  ill-natured  to  talk  for  amusement,  and  there  was 
nothing  else  to  talk  for. 

This  spell  was  broken  about  eleven  o'clock  by  the  appearance 
at  the  head  of  the  stairway  of  the  Irishman  with  the  gun-barrel 
cane,  and  his  singing  out : 

"  Sargint  uv  the  flure :  f ourtane  min  and  a  bread-box  1 n 

Instantly  every  man  sprang  to  his  feet,  and  pressed  forward 
to  be  one  of  the  favored  fourteen  One  did  not  get  any  more 
rations  or  obtain  them  any  sooner  by  this,  but  it  was  a  relief,  and 
a  change  to  walk  the  half  square  outside  the  prison  to  the  cook 
house,  and  help  carry  the  rations  back. 

For  a  little  while  after  our  arrival  in  Richmond,  the  rations 
were  tolerably  good.  There  had  been  so  much  said  about  the 
priyations  of  the  prisoners  that  our  Government  had,  after 
much  quibbling  and  negotiation,  succeeded  in  getting  the  priv 
ilege  of  sending  food  and  clothing  through  the  lines  to  us.  Of 
course  but  a  small  part  of  that  sent  ever  reached  its  destination, 
There  were  too  many  greedy  Rebels  along  its  line  of  passage  to 
let  much  of  it  be  received  by  those  for  whom  it  was  intended. 
"We  could  see  from  our  wiadows  Rebels  strutting  about  in  over 
coats,  in  which  the  box  wrinkles  were  still  plainly  visible,  wear 
ing  new  "U.  S."  blankets  as  cloaks,  and  walking  in  Govern 
ment  J&oes,  worth  &ki>uk>u£  prices  in  Confederate  money. 


€3  JJTDERSONTILLS 

Fortunately  for  our  Government  the  Rebels  decided  to  cut 
themselves  off  from  this  profitable  source  of  supply.  We  read 
one  day  in  the  Richmond  papers  that  "  President  Davis  and  his 
Cabinet  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  incompatible 
with  the  dignity  of  a  sovereign  power  to  permit  another  power 
with,  which  it  was  at  war,  to  feed  and  clothe  prisoners  in  its 
liaads." 

I  will  not  stop  to  argue  this  point  of  honor,  and  show  its  at> 
gurdity  by  pointing  out  that  it  is  not  an  unusual  practice  with 
nations  at  war.  It  is  a  sufficient  commentary  upon  thia 
assumption  of  punctiliousness  that  the  paper  went  on  to  say 
that  some  five  tons  of  clothing  and  fifteen  tons  of  food,  which 
had  been  sent  under  a  flag  of  truce  to  City  Point,  would  neither 
be  returned  nor  delivered  to  us,  but  "  converted  to  the  use  of 
the  Confederate  Government." 

"  And  Burrjv  they  are  all  honorable  atcnl" 

Heaven  save  the  mark. 


CHAPTEB 


BXAJTB  OB  PEAJ  —  IN  s  u  FFiCTENOY  OF  PARITY  TESTIMONY  —  A  <JTTJLKI> 
KILLS  A  PBI8ONEB  —  PBISONEE3  TEAZE  THE  GTJA&DS  —  DE8PEEAXB 
OUTBEEAEL. 

But,  to  return  to  the  rations  —  a  topic  which,  with  escape  OT 
exchange,  were  to  be  the  absorbing  ones  for  us  for  the  next  fif 
teen  months.  There  was  now  issued  to  every  two  men  a  loaf 
of  coarse  bread  —  made  of  a  mixture  of  flour  and  meal  —  and 
about  the  size  and  shape  of  an  ordinary  brick.  This  half  loaf 
was  accompanied,  whole  our  Government  was  allowed  to  fur 
nish  rations,  with  a  small  piece  of  corned  beef.  Occasionally 
we  got  a  sweet  potato,  or  a  half  -pint  or  such  a  matter  of  soup 
made  from  a  coarse,  but  nutritious,  bean  or  pea,  called  variously 
'"  nigger-pea,"  "  stock-pea,"  or  "cow-pea." 

This,  by  the  way,  became  a  fruitful  bone  of  contention  during 
onr  stay  in  the  South.  One  strong  party  among  us  maintained 
that  it  was  a  bean,  because  it  was  shaped  like  one,  and  brown, 
which  they  claimed  no  pea  ever  was.  The  other  party  held 
that  it  was  a  pea  because  its  various  names  all  agreed  in  describ 
ing  it  as  a  pea,  and  because  it  was  so  full  of  bugs  —  none  being 
entirely  free  from  insects,  and  some  having  as  mauy  as  twelve 
—  by  actual  count  —  within  its  shell.  This,  they  declared,  waa 
a  distinctive  characteristic  of  the  pea  family.  The  contention 
began  with  our  first  instalment  of  the  leguminous  ration,  and 
was  still  raging  between  the  survivors  who  passed  into  our  lines 
in  1865.  It  waxed  hot  occasionally,  and  each  side  continually 
sought  evidence  to  support  its  view  of  the  case.  Once  an  old 
darky,  sent  into  the  prison  on  some  errand,  was  summoned  to 
decide  a  hot  dispute  that  was  raging  in  the  crowd  to  which  £ 


00  A1TDEB8ONTTLLE. 

belonged.  The  champion  of  the  pea  side  said,  producing  ono 
of  the  objects  of  dispute : 

"  Now,  boys,  keep  still,  till  I  put  the  question  fairly.  Now, 
nncle,  what  do  they  call  that  there  ? " 

The  colored  gentleman  scrutinized  the  vegetable  closely,  and 
replied, 

"  Well,  dey  mos'  generally  calls  'em  stock-peas,  round  hyar 
aways." 

"  There,"  said  the  pea-champion  triumphantly. 

"  But,"  broke  in  the  leader  of  the  bean  party,  "  Uncle,  don't 
they  also  call  them  beans  ? "  l 

"  Well,  yes,  chile,  I  spec  dat  lots  of  'em  does." 

And  this  was  about  the  way  the  matter  usually  ended. 

I  will  not  attempt  to  bias  the  reader's  judgment  by  saying 
Which  side  I  believed  to  be  right.  As  the  historic  British  show 
man  said,  in  reply  to  the  question  as  to  whether  an  animal  in 
his  collection  was  a  rhinoceros  or  an  elephant,  "You  pays  your 
money  and  you  takes  your  choice." 

The  rations  issued  to  us,  as  will  be  seen  above,  though  they 
appear  scanty,  were  still  sufficient  to  support  life  and  health, 
and  months  afterward,  in  Andersonville,  we  used  to  look  back 
to  them  as  sumptuous.  We  usually  had  them  divided  and  eaten 
by  noon,  and,  with  the  gnawings  of  hunger  appeased,  we  spent 
the  afternoon  and  evening  comfortably.  We  told  stories,  paced 
up  and  down  the  floor  for  exercise,  played  cards,  sung,  read 
what  few  books  were  available,  stood  at  the  windows  and 
studied  the  landscape,  and  watched  the  Kebels  trying  their  guns 
and  shells,  and  so  on  as  long  as  it  was  daylight.  Occasionally 
it  was  dangerous  to  be  about  the  windows.  This  depended 
wholly  on  the  temper  of  the  guards.  One  day  a  member 
of  a  Virginia  regiment,  on  guard  on  the  pavement  in  front, 
deliberately  left  his  beat,  walked  out  into  the  center  of  the 
street,  aimed  his  gun  at  a  member  of  the  Ninth  West  Virginia, 
who  was  standing  at  a  window  near,  and  firing,  shot  him 
through  the  heart,  the  bullet  passing  through  his  body,  aad 
through  the  floor  above.  The  act  was  purely  malicious,  and 
was  done,  doubtless,  in  revenge  for  some  injury  which  our  men 
had  done  the  assassin  or  tes  family. 

We  were  not  altogether  blameless^  by  any  means.     Thero 


A  BTOfBT  OF  KSBSL  laLITUCY  PMBOHB 


fll 


few  opportunities  to  say  bitterly  offensive  things  to  the 
guards  let  pass  unimproved. 

The  prisoners  in  the  third  floor  of  the  Smith  buoldrng, 
adjoining  us,  had  their  own  way  of  teasing  them.  Late  at 
night,  when  everybody  would  be  lying  down,  and  out  of  tha 
way  of  wots,  a  window  in  the  third  story  would  open,  a  taxn» 


AN  EVENING  8    AMUSEMENT  WITH   THE  GUAUDB. 

stick,  with  a  piece  nailed  across  to  represent  arms,  and  clothed 
with  a  cap  and  blouse,  would  be  protruded,  and  a  voice  coming 
from  a  man  carefully  protected  by  the  wall,  would  inquire : 

"  S-a-y,  g-ua-r-d,  what  time  is  it  ? " 

If  the  guard  was  of  the  long  suffering  kind  he  would  answer : 

"  Take  yo'  head  back  in,  up  dah ;  you  kno  hits  agin  all  cdaha 
to  do  dat?" 

Then  the  voice  would  say,  aggravatingly,  "  Oh,  well,  go  to 
,  you Rebel ,  if  you  can't  answer  a  civil  ques 
tion." 

Before  the  speech  was  ended  the  guard's  rifle  would  be  at  hii 


92  , 

shoulder  and  he  would  fire.  Back  would  come  the  blouse  and 
hat  in  haste,  only  to  go  out  again  the  next  instant,  with  a  deri 
sive  laugh,  and 

"  Thought  you  were  going  to  hurt  somebody,  d idn't  you,  you 

•-• .  But,  Lord,  you  can't  shoot  for  sour 

apples;  if  I  couldn't  shoot  no  better  than  you,  Mr.  Johnny 
Reb,  I  would " 

By  this  time  the  guard,  having  his  gun  loaded  again,  would 
cut  short  the  remarks  with  another  shot,  which,  followed  up 
with  similar  remarks,  would  provoke  still  another,  when  an 
alarm  sounding,  the  guards  at  Libby  and  all  the  other  buildings 
around  us  would  turn  out.  An  officer  of  the  guard  would  go 
up  with  a  squad  into  the  third  floor,  only  to  find  everybody  up 
there  snoring  away  as  if  they  were  the  Seven  Sleepers.  After 
relieving  his  mind  of  a  quantity  of  vigorous  profanity,  and 
threats  to  "buck  and  gag"  and  cut  off  the  rations  of  the  whole 
room,  the  officer  would  return  to  his  quarters  in  the  guard 
house,  but  before  he  was  fairly  ensconced  there  the  cap  and 
blouse  would  go  out  again,  and  the  maddened  guard  be  regaled 
with  a  spirited  and  vividly  profane  lecture  on  the  depravity 
of  Rebels  •  in  general,  and  his  own  unworthiness  in  par 
ticular. 

One  night  in  January  things  took  a  more  serious  turn.  The 
uoys  on  the  lower  floor  of  our  building  had  long  considered  a 
plan  of  escape.  There  were  then  about  tifteen  thousand  pris 
oners  in  Richmond —  ten  thousand  on  Belle  Isle  and  five  thou 
sand  in  the  buildings.  Of  these  one  thousand  five  hundred 
were  officers  in  Libby.  Besides  there  were  the  prisoners  in 
Castles  Thunder  and  Lightning.  The  essential  features  of  the 
plan  were  that  at  a  preconcerted  signal  we  at  the  second  and 
third  floors  should  appear  at  the  windows  with  bricks  and  irons 
from  the  tobacco  presses,  which  we  should  shovvor  down  on 
the  guards  and  drive  them  away,  while  the  men  of  the  first 
floor  would  pour  out,  chase  the  guards  into  the  guard  house  in 
the  basement,  seize  their  arms,  drive  those  away  from  around 
Libby  and  the  other  prisons,  release  the  officers,  organize  into 
regiments  and  brigades,  seize  the  armory,  set  fire  to  the  public 
buildings  and  retreat  from  the  City,  by  the  south  side  of  the 
James,  where  there  was  but  a  scanty  force  of  Rebels,  and  more 


A  gTORT  OT  REBEL  IGLTTABY  PEIBONB.  08 

could  be  prevented  from  coining  over  by  burning  the  bridged 
behind  us. 

1 1  was  a  magnificent  scheme,  and  might  have  been  carried 
out,  but  there  was  no  one  in  the  building  who  was  generally 
believed  to  have  the  qualities  of  a  leader. 

iiut  while  it  was  being  debated  a  few  of  the  hot  heads  on 
the  lower  lioor  undertook  to  precipitate  the  crisis.  They  seized 
what  they  thought  was  a  favorable  opportunity,  overpowered 
the  guard  who  stood  at  the  foot  of  the  stairs,  and  poured  into 
the  street.  The  other  guards  fell  back  and  opened  fire  on  them ; 
other  troops  hastened  up,  and  soon  drove  them  back  into  tho 
building,  after  killing  ten  or  fifteen.  We  of  the  second  and 
third  liuors  did  not  anticipate  the  break  at  that  time,  and  wera 
taken  as  much  by  surprise  as  were  the  Kebels.  Nearly  all  wera 
lying  down  and  many  were  asleep.  Some  hastened  to  tha 
wiuuLrtvs,  and  dropped  missiles  out,  but  before  any  concerted 
action  could  be  taken  it  was  seen  that  the  case  was  hopeless, 
and  we  remained  quiet. 

Among  those  who  led  in  the  assault  was  a  drummer-boy  of 
some  New  York  Regiment,  a  recklessly  brave  little  rascal  Ha 
had  somehow  smuggled  a  small  four-shooter  in  with  him,  and 
as  they  rushed  out  he  fired  it  off  at  the  guards. 

After  the  prisoners  were  driven  back,  the  Rebel  officers  camo 
in  and  vapored  around  considerably,  but  confined  themselves  t  > 
big  words.  They  were  particularly  anxious  to  find  the  revolver, 
and  ordered  a  general  and  rigorous  search  for  it.  The  prison 
ers  were  all  ranged  on  one  side  of  the  room  and  carefully 
examined  by  one  party,  while  another  hunted  through  the 
blankets  and  bundles.  It  was  all  in  vain ;  no  pistol  could  be 
found.  The  boy  had  a  loaf  of  wheat  bread,  bought  from  a 
baker  during  the  day.  It  was  a  round  loaf,  set  together  ILL  two 
p.eces  like  a  biscuit.  lie  pulled  these  apart,  laid  the  four- 
siiooter  between  them,  pressed  the  two  halves  together,  and 
went  on  calmly  nibbling  away  at  the  loaf  while  the  search  was 
progressing. 

Two  gunboats  were  brought^  up  the  next  morning,  and 
anchored  in  the  canal  near  us,  with  their  heavy  guns  trained 
upon  the  building.  It  was  thought  that  this  would  mtimidata 
us  from  a  repetition  of  the  attack,  but  our  saikas  eonceiYed 


JLSTDERSOXTILLE. 


that,  as  they  laid  against  the  shore  next  to  us,  they  could  bo 
easily  captured,  and  their  artillery  made  to  assist  us.  A  scheme 
to  accomplish  this  was  being  wrought  Qty  when  wfl  receiYed 
to  a^ve,  fto^it  uuufi  vg 


CHAPTER  X. 

THB  EXCHANGE  AND  THE  CAUSE  OF  ITS  rNTEREtrPTTOIf —  BRUS 
RESUME  OF  THE  DIFFERENT  CARTELS,  AND  THE  1>DJFICTJLTIES  THAT 
LED  TO  THEIR  SUSPENSION 

Few  questions  intimately  connected  with  the  actual  opera- 
tions  of  the  Rebellion  have  been  enveloped  with  such  a  mass  of 
conflicting  statement  as  the  responsibility  for  the  interruption 
of  the  exchange.  Southern  writers  and  politicians,  naturally 
anxious  to  diminish  as  much  as  possible  the  great  odium  resting 
upon  their  section  for  the  treatment  of  prisoners  of  war  during 
the  last  year  and  a  half  of  the  Confederacy's  existence,  have 
vehemently  charged  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States 

*•  O 

deliberately  and  pitilessly  resigned  to  their  fate  such  of  its  sol 
diers  as  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  and  repelled  all 
advances  from  the  Rebel  Government  looking  toward  a  resump 
tion  of  exchange.  It  is  alleged  on  our  side,  on  the  other  hand, 
that  our  Government  did  all  that  was  possible,  consistent  with 
National  dignity  and  military  prudence,  to  secure  a  release  of 
its  unfortunate  men  in  the  power  of  the  Rebels. 

Over  this  vexed  question  there  has  been  waged  an  acrimoni 
ous  Avar  of  words,  which  has  apparently  led  to  no  decision,  nor 
any  convictions  —  the  disputants,  one  and  all,  remaining  on  the 
sides  of  the  controversy  occupied  by  them  when  the  debate 
began. 

I  may  not  be  in  possession  of  all  the  facts  bearing  upon  the 
case,  and  may  be  warped  in  judgment  by  prejudices  in  favor  of 
my  own  Government's  wisdom  and  humanity,  but,  however 
this  may  be,  the  following  is  my  firm  belief  as  to  the  controlling 
facts  in  this  lamentable  ail  air : 


1,  For  some  time  after  the  beginning  of  hostilities  our  Gov 
ernment  refused  to  exchange  prisoners  with  the  Babels,  on  the 
ground  that  this  might  be  held  by  the  European  powers  who 
were  seeking  a  pretext  for  acknowledging  the  Confederacy,  to 
be  admission  by  us  that  the  war  was  no  longer  an  insurrection 
but  a  revolution,  which  had  resulted  in  the  d&  faeto  establish 
ment  of  a  new  nation.    This  difficulty  was  finally  gotten  over 
by  recognizing  the  Eebels  as  belligerents,  which,  while  it  placed 
them  on  a  somewhat  different  plane  from  mere  insurgents,  did 
not  elevate  them  to  the  position  of  soldiers  of  a  foreign  power. 

2.  Then  the  following  cartel  was  agreed  upon  by  Generals 
Di*  on  oar  side  and  Hill  on  that  of  the  Rebels : 

HJLXJLLL'S  LANDING,  ON  JAMJCS  RIVER,  July  23,  1862. 

The  undersigned,  baring  been  commissioned  by  the  authorities  they  respect 
ively  represent  to  make  arrangements  for  a  general  exchange  of  prisoner!  of 
vw,  have  agreed  to  the  following  articles  ; 

ABTICLS  L — It  is  hereby  agreed  and  stipulated,  that  all  prisoners  of  war, 
held  by  either  party,  including  those  taken  on  private  armed  vessels,  known 
as  privateers,  shall  be  exchanged  upon  the  conditions  and  terms  following: 

Priaonecs  to  be  exchanged  man  for  man  and  officer  for  officer.  Privateers 
|o  be  placed  upon  the  footing  of  officers  and  men  of  the  navy. 

Men  and  officers  of  lower  grades  may  be  exchanged  for  officers  of  a  higher 
grade,  and  men  and  officers  of  different  services  may  be  exchanged  according 
to  the  following  scale  of  equivalents: 

A  General-commanding-in-chief,  or  an  Admiral,  shall  be  exchanged  foi 
officers  of  equal  rank,  or  for  sixty  privates  or  common  seamen. 

A  Commodore,  carrying  a  broad  pennant,  or  a  Brigadier  General,  shall  be 
exchanged  for  officers  of  equal  rank,  or  twenty  privates  or  common  seamen. 

A  Captain  in  the  Navy,  or  a  Colonel,  shall  be  exchanged  for  officers  of  equal 
rank,  or  lor  fifteen  privates  or  common  seamen. 

A  Lieutfteftnt  Colonel,  or  Commander  in  the  Xavy,  shall  be  exchanged  fox 
officers  of  equal  rank,  or  for  ten  privates  or  common  seamen. 

A  Lieutenant,  or  a  Master  in  the  Navy,  or  a  Captain  in  the  Army  or  marines 
shall  be  exchanged  for  officers  of  equal  rank,  or  six  privates  or  common 


Master's-matea  in  the  Navy,  or  Lieutenants  or  Ensigns  in  the  Army,  shall  be 
exchanged  for  officers  of  equal  rank,  or  four  privates  or  common  seamen. 
Midshipmen,  warrant  officers  in  the  Navy,  masters  of  merchant  vessels  and 
commanders  of  privateers,  shall  be  exchanged  for  officers  of  equal  rank,  or 
three  private*  or  common  seamen;  Second  Captains,  Lieutenants  or  mates  of 
merchant  vessels  «r  privateers,  and  all  petty  officers  in  the  Navy,  and  all  son- 
conumssioQcd  officers  in  the  Army  or  marines,  shall  be  severally  exchanged 
lor  persona  of  equal  raak,  or  for  two  privates  or  common  seamen;  and  private 
CJ  uix>ii  BOflHMjD  shfll^  bs  cx^c tts n  iffi 


A  STOBT  OF  fiEBEL  IflLTHBT  FBlBOJto.  97 


—  Local,  State,  civil  and  militia  rank  held  by  persons  not  in 
actual  military  service  win1  not  be  recognized;  the  basis  of  exchange  being 
the  grade  actually  held  in  the  naval  and  military  service  of  the  respective 
parties. 

ABTICLE  IIL  —  If  citizens  held  by  either  party  on  charges  of  disloyalty,  as 
any  alleged  civil  offense,  are  exchanged,  it  shall  only  be  for  citizens.  Cap 
tured  sailers,  teamsters,  aud  all  civilians  in  the  actual  service  of  either  party, 
to  b«  exchanged  for  persons  in  similar  positions. 

ABTICJLE  IV.  —  All  prisoner  of  war  to  be  discharged  on  parole  in  ten  days 
after  their  capture;  and  the  prisoners  now  herd,  and  those  hereafter  taken,  to 
be  transported  to  the  points  mutually  agreed  upon,  at  the  expense  of  the  cap- 
taring  party.  The  surplus  prisoners  not  exchanged  shall  not  be  permitted  to 
take  up  arms  again,  nor  to  serve  as  military  police  or  constabulary  force  in 
any  fort,  garrison  or  field-work,  h«ld  by  either  of  the  respective  parties,  nor 
as  guards  of  prisoners,  deposits  or  stores,  nor  to  discharge  any  duty  usually 
performed  by  soldiers,  until  exchanged  under  the  provisions  of  this  cartel. 
The  exchange  is  not  to  be  considered  complete  until  the  officer  or  soldier  ex 
changed  for  has  been  actually  restored  to  the  lines  to  which  he  belongs. 

ARTICLE  V.  —  Each  party  upon  the  discharge  of  prisoners  of  the  other 
party  is  authorized  to  discharge  an  equal  number  of  their  own  officers  or  men 
from  parole,  furnishing,  at  the  same  time,  to  the  other  party  a  list  of  their 
prisoners  discharged,  and  of  their  own  officers  and  men  relieved  from  parole; 
thus  enabling  eacii  party  to  relieve  from  parole  such  of  their  officers  and  men 
as  the  party  may  choose.  The  lists  thus  mutually  furnished,  will  keep  both 
parties  advised  of  the  true  condition  of  the  exchange  of  prisoners, 

ARTICLE  VI.  —  The  stipulations  and  provisions  above  mentioned  to  be  of 
binding  obligation  during  the  continuance  of  the  war,  it  matters  not  which 
party  may  have  the  surplus  of  prisoners;  the  great  principles  involved  being, 
First,  An  equitable  exchange  of  prisoners,  man  for  man,  or  officer  for  officer, 
or  officers  of  higher  grade  exchanged  for  officers  of  lower  grade,  or  for  pri 
vates,  according  to  scale  of  equivalents.  Second,  That  privates  and  ofliceri 
and  men  of  different  services  may  be  exchanged  according  to  the  same  scale  of 
equivalents.  Third,  That  all  prisoners,  of  whatever  arm  of  service,  are  to 
he  exchanged  or  paroled  in  ten  days  from  the  time  of  their  capture,  if  it  be 
practicable  to  transfer  them  to  their  own  lines  in  that  time;  if  not,  so  sooa 
thereafter  as  practicable.  Fourth,  That  no  officer,  or  soldier,  employed  in 
the  service  of  either  party,  is  to  be  considered  as  exchanged  and  absolved 
from  his  parole  until  Lis  equivalent  has  actually  reached  the  lines  of  his 
iriends.  Fifth,  That  parole  forbids  the  performance  of  field,  garrison,  police, 
or  guard  or  constabulary  duly. 

Jonx  A.  Dix,  ..Ifa  ;-•»«•  Gentro}- 

D.  II.  HILL,  li>.<jor  General,  C\  S.  A. 

Burn.F.MEKTARY    AilllCLES. 

ARTICLE  VTI.  —  All  rrisonvrs  of  war  now  he-id  on  eklior  sido,  c^.nd  all  pris- 

o«-;r&  hereafter  taken,  shall  be  sent  with  ail  reasonable  dispatch    to  A.  iL 

:en'a,  betow  Dutcn  Gup,  on  the  James  Kiver,  in  Virginia,  or  to  Vicksburg, 


W  AXTDERSOHTTLLB* 

on  the  Mississippi  River,  in  me  State  of  Mississippi,  and  there  exchanged  08 
paroled  until  such  exchange  can  be  effected,  notice  being  previously  given  by 
each  party  of  the  number  of  prisoners  it  will  send,  and  the  time  when  they  will 
be  delivered  at  those  points  respectively;  and  in  case  the  vicissitudes  of  war 
shall  change  the  military  relations  of  the  places  designated  in  this  article  to 
the  contending  parties,  so  as  to  render  the  same  inconvenient  for  the  delivery 
and  exchange  of  prisoners,  other  places  bearing  as  nearly  as  may  be  the  pres 
ent  local  relations  of  said  places  to  the  lines  of  said  parties,  shall  be,  by  mu 
tual  agreement,  substituted.  But  nothing  in  this  article  contained  shall  pro- 
vent  the  commanders  of  the  two  opposing  armies  from  exchanging  prisoners 
or  releasing  them  on  parole,  at  other  points  mutually  agreed  on  by  said  com- 
manders. 

ARTICLE  VIII.  —  For  the  purpose  of  carrying  into  effect  the  foregoing  art!» 
cles  of  agreement,  each  party  will  appoint  two  agents  for  the  exchange  ol 
prisoners  of  war,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  communicate  with  each  other  by 
correspondence  and  otherwise;  to  prepare  the  lists  of  prisoners;  to  attend  to 
the  delivery  of  the  prisoners  at  the  places  agreed  on,  and  to  carry  out  promptly, 
effectually,  and  in  good  faith,  all  the  details  and  provisions  of  the  said  articles 
of  agreement. 

AKTTCLE  IX.  —  And,  in  case  any  misunderstanding  shall  arise  in  regard  to 
any  clause  or  stipulation  in  the  foregoing  articles,  it  is  mutually  agreed  that 
Btich  misunderstanding  shall  not  affect  the  release  of  prisoners  on  parole,  at 
herein  provided,  but  shall  be  made  the  subject  of  friendly  explanation,  in 
order  that  the  object  of  this  agreement  may  neither  be  defeated  nor  postponed, 

JOHN  A.  Dix,  Major  General. 

D.  H.  HILL,  Major  General  C.  3.  A, 

This  plan  did  not  work  well.  Men  on  both  sides,  who 
•wanted  a  little  rest  from  soldiering,  could  obtain  it  by  strag 
gling  in  the  vicinity  of  the  enemy.  Their  parole  —  following 
close  upon  their  capture,  frequently  upon  the  spot  —  allowed 
them  to  visit  home,  and  sojourn  awhile  where  were  pleasanter 
pastures  than  nt  the  front.  Then  the  Rebels  grew  into  the 
habit  of  paroling  everybody  that  they  could  constrain  into 
being  a  prisoner  of  war.  Peaceable,  un warlike  and  decrepit 
citizens  of  Kentucky,  East  Tennessee,  West  Virginia,  Missouri 
and  Maryland  were  "captured"  and  paroled,  and  set  off  against 
regular  Rebel  soldiers  taken  bv  us. 

O 

3.  After  some  months  of  trial  of  this  scheme,  a  modification 
of  the  cartel  was  agreed  upon,  the  main  feature  of  which  was 
that  all  prisoners  must  be  reduced  to  possession,  and  delivered 
to  the  exchange  oliicers  either  at  City  Point,  Va.,  or  Vicksburg, 
Miss.  This  worked  very  well  for  some  months,  until  our  Gov 
ernment  began  organizing  negro  troops.  The  Rebels  ti'"a 


A  BTOET  07  BSBEL  1OLITABY  PEIS05B*  09 

an  order  that  neither  these  troops  nor  their  officers 
should  be  held  as  amenable  to  the  laws  of  war,  but  that,  when 
captured,  the  men  should  be  returned  to  slavery,  and  the  offi 
cers  turned  over  to  the  Governors  of  the  States  in  which  they 
were  taken,  to  be  dealt  with  according  to  the  stringent  laws 
punishing  the  incitement  of  servile  insurrection.  Our  Govern 
ment  could  not  permit  this  for  a  day.  It  was  bound  by  every 
consideration  of  National  honor  to  protect  those  who  wore  its 
uniform  and  bore  its  flag.  The  Rebel  Government  was 
promptly  informed  that  Rebel  officers  and  men  would  be  held 
as  hostages  for  the  proper  treatment  of  such  members  of  colored 
regiments  as  might  be  taken. 

4.  This  discussion  did  not  pot  a  stop  to  the  exchange,  but 
while  it  was  going  on  Yicksburg  was  captured,  and  the  battle 
of  Gettysburg  was  fought.   The  first  placed  ene  of  the  exchange 
points  in  our  hands.     At  the  opening  of  the  fight  at  Gettys 
burg  Lee  captured  some  six  thousand  Pennsylvania  militia. 
He  sent  to  Meade  to  have  these  exchanged  on  the  field  of  bat 
tle,     Meade  declined  to  do  so  for  two  reasons :  first,  because  it 
was  against  the  cartel,  which  prescribed  that  prisoners  must  be 
reduced  to  possession ;  and  second,  because  he  was  anxious  to 
have  Lee  hampered  with  such  a  body  of  prisoners,  since  it  was 
very  doubtful  if  he  could  get  his  beaten  army  back  across  the 
Potomac,  let  alone  his  prisoners.     Lee  then  sent  a  communica 
tion  to  General  Couch,  commanding  the  Pennsylvania  militia, 
asking  him  to  receive  prisoners  on  parole,  and  Couch,  not  knowing 
what  Meade  had  done,  acceded  to  the  request.     Our  Govern 
ment   disavowed  Couch's   action   instantly,   and   ordered  the 
paroles  to  be  treated  as  of  no  force,  whereupon  the  Rebel  Govern 
ment  ordered  back  into  the  field  twelve  thousand  of  the  pris 
oners  captured  by  Grant's  army  at  Yicksburg. 

5.  The  paroling  now  stopped  abruptly,  leaving  in  the  hands 
of  both  sides  the  prisoners  captured  at  Gettysburg,  except  the 
militia  above  mentioned.     The  Rebels  added  considerably  to 
those  in  their  hands  by  their  captures  at  Chickamauga,  while 
we  gained  a  great  many  at  Mission  Eid^e,  Cumberland  Gap 
and  elsewhere,  so  that  at  the  time  we  arrived  in  Richmond  the 
Rebels  had  about  fifteen  thousand  prisoners  in  their  iiund*  and 

about  twenty-five 


100  AHDEBSONVILLIC. 

6.  The  Kebels  now  began  demanding  that  the  prisoners  on 
both  sides  be  exchanged  —  man  for  man  —  as  far  as  they  went, 
and  the  remainder  paroled.     Our  Government  offered  to  ex 
change  man  for  man,  but  declined  —  on  account  of  the  previous 
bad  faith  of  the  Rebels  —  to  release  the  balance  on  parole.     The 
Kebels  also  refused  to  make  any  concessions  in  regard  to  the 
treatment  of  officers  and  men  of  colored  regiments. 

7.  At  this  juncture  General  B.  F.  Butler  was  appointed  to 
the  command  of  the  Department  of  the  Blackwater,  which 
made  him  an  ex-officio  Commissioner  of  Exchange.     The  Ri-U-U 
instantly  refused  to  treat  with  him,  on  the  ground  that  he  w;u« 
outlawed  by  the  proclamation  of  Jefferson   Davis.      General 
Butler  very  pertinently  replied  that  this  only  placed  him  nearer 
their  level,  as  Jefferson  Davis  and  all  associated  with  him  in 
the  Rebel  Government  had  been  outlawed  by  the  proclamation 
of  President  Lincoln.     The  Rebels  scorned  to  notice  this  homo 
thrust  by  the  Union  General. 

8.  On  February  12,  1864,  General  Butler  addressed  a  letter 
to  the  Rebel  Commissioner  Ould,  in  which  he    asked,  for  the 
sake  of  humanity,  that  the  questions  interrupting  the  exchange 
be  left  temporarily  in  abeyance  while  an  informal  exchange  was 
put  in  operation.     He  would  send  five  hundred  prisoners  to  City 
Point;  let  them  be  met  by  a  similar  number  of  Union  prison 
ers.     This  could  go  on  from  day  to  day  until  all  in  each  other's 
hands  should  be  transferred  to  their  respective  flags. 

The  five  hundred  sent  with  the  General's  letter  were  received, 
and  five  hundred  Union  prisoners  returned  for  them.  Another 
five  hundred,  sent  the  next  day,  were  refused,  and  so  this  reason 
able  and  humane  proposition  ended  in  nothing. 

This  was  the  condition  of  affairs  in  February,  1864,  when  tho 
Rebel  authorities  concluded  to  send  us  to  Andersonville.  If 
the  reader  will  fix  these  facts  in  his  mind,  I  will  explain  other 
phases  as  they  develop. 


CHAPTEK  XL 

PUTTING     IW    THE    TIME RATIONS COO  KINO     UTENSILS "  FIAT  n 

SOUP "  SPOONING  "  —  AFRICAN  NEWSPAPER  VENDEES TRADING 

GREENBACKS      FOB      CONFEDERATE      MONEY VISIT      FBOM     JOHS 

MORGAN. 

The  Winter  days  passed  on,  one  by  one,  after  the  manner 
described  in  a  former  chapter,  —  the  mornings  in  ill-natured 
hunger ;  the  afternoons  and  evenings  in  tolerable  comfort.  The 
rations  kept  growing  lighter  and  lighter ;  the  quantity  of  bread 
remained  the  same,  but  the  meat  diminished,  and  occasionally 
days  would  pass  without  any  being  issued.  Then  we  received 
a  pint  or  less  of  soup  made  from  the  beans  or  peas  before  men 
tioned,  but  this,  too,  suffered  continued  change,  in  the  grad 
ually  increasing  proportion  of  James  River  water,  and  decreas 
ing  of  that  of  the  beans. 

The  water  of  the  James  River  is  doubtless  excellent:  it  looks 
well  —  at  a  distance  —  and  is  said  to  serve  the  purposes  of  abla 
tion  and  navigation  admirably.  There  seems  to  be  a  limit, 
however,  to  the  extent  of  its  advantageous  combination  with 
the  bean  (or  pea)  for  nutritive  purposes.  This,  though,  was  our 
view  of  the  case,  merely,  and  not  shared  in  to  any  appreciable 
extent  by  the  gentlemen  who  were  managing  our  boarding 
house.  AYe  seemed  to  view  the  matter  through  allopathic  spec 
tacles,  they  through  homoeopathic  lenses.  "We  thought  that 
the  atomic  weight  of  peas  (or  beans)  and  the  James  River  tluid 
were  about  equal,  which  would  indicate  that  the  proper  com 
bining  proportions  would,  be,  say  a  bucket  of  beans  (or  peas)  to 
a  bucket  of  water.  They  held  that  the  nutritive  potency  was 
increased,  iy  nu*,  dilution,  and  the  best  results  were  obtainable 


103 


when  the  syMploms  of  hunger  were  combated  by  the  tritara- 
tion  of  a  bucketful  of  the  peas-beans  with  a  barrel  of  aqua 
jamesicvna. 

My  first  experience  with  this  "  fiat "  soup  was  very  instruct 
ive,  if  not  agreeable.  I  had  come  into  prison,  as  did  most  other 
prisoners,  absolutely  destitute  of  dishes,  or  cooking  utensils. 
The  well-used,  half -canteen  frying-pan,  the  blackened  quart  cup, 
and  the  spoon,  which  formed  the  usual  kitchen  outfit  of  the 
cavalryman  in  the  field,  were  in  the  haversack  on  my  saddle, 
and  were  lost  to  me  when  I  separated  from  my  horse.  Now, 
when  we  were  told  that  we  were  to  draw  soup,  I  was  in  great 
danger  of  losing  my  ration  from  having  no  vessel  in  which  to 
receive  it  There  were  but  few  tin  cups  in  the  prison,  and 

these  were,  of  course, 
wanted  by  their  owners. 
By  great  good  fortune  I 
found  an  empty  fruit 
can,  holding  about  a 
quart.  I  was  also  lucky 
enough  to  find  a  piece 
of  wire  from  which  to 
"make  a  bail  I  next 
manufactured  a  spoon 
and  knife  combined  from 
a  bit  of  hoop-iron. 
TKxise  two  humble  utensils  at  once  placed  myself  and  my  im 
mediate  Churns  on  another  plane,  as  far  as  worldly  goods  were 
concerned,  We  were  better  off  than  the  mass,  and  as  well  off 
as  the  most  fortunate.  It  was  a  curious  illustration  of  that 
law  of  political  economy  which  teaches  that  so-called  intrinsic 
value  is  largely  adventitious.  Their  possession  gave  us  infinitely 
more  consideration  among  our  fellows  than  would  the  possession 
of  a  brown-stone  front  in  an  eligible  location,  furnished  with 
hot  and  cold  water  throughout,  and  all  the  modern  improve 
ments.  It  was  a  place  where  cooking  utensils  were  in  demand, 
and  title-deeds  to  brown-stone  fronts  were  not.  TVe  were  in 
possession  of  something  which  every  one  needed  every  day, 
and,  therefore,  were  persons  of  consequence  and  consideration 
to  those  around  us  who  were  present  or  prospective  borrowers. 


CULDfJlKT  OTTmT. 


A  STORY  OF  REBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS 


103 


On  our  side  we  obeyed  another  law  of  political  economy:  We 
clung  to  our  property  with  .unrelaxing  tenacity,  made  the  best 
use  of  it  in  our  intercourse  with  our  fellows,  and  only  gave  it 
up  after  oui  release  and  entry  into  a  land  where  the  plenitude 
of  cooking  utensils  of  superior  construction  made  ours  value 
less.  Jhen  we  flung  them  into  the  sea,  with  little  gratitude  for 
the  great  beneSt  they  had  been  to  us.  We  were  more  anxious  to 
get  rid  of  the  many  hateful  recollections  clustering  around  them. 
But,  to  return  to  the  alleged  soup :  As  I  started  to  drink 
my  fij-st  ration  it  seemed  to  me  that  there  was  a  superfluity 

of  bugs  upon  its  surface.  Much 
as  I  wanted  animal  food,  I  did 
not  care  for  fresh  meat  in  that 
form.  I  skimmed  them  off  care 
fully,  so  as  to  lose  as  little  soup 
as  possible.  But  the  top  layer 
seemed  to  be  underlaid  with  an- 
other  equally  dense.  This  was 
also  skimmed  off  as  deftly  as 
possible.  But  beneath  this  ap 
peared  another  layer,  which, 
when  removed,  showed  still  an 
other;  and  so  on,  until  I  had 
scraped  to  the  bottom,  of  the 
can,  and  the  last  of  the  bugs  went  with  the  last  of  my 
soup.  I  have  before  spoken  of  the  remarkable  bug  fecundity 
of  the  beans  (or  peas).  This  was  a  demonstration  of  it  Every 
scouped  out  pea  (or  bean)  which  found  its  way  into  the  soup 
bore  inside  of  its  shell  from  ten  to  twenty  of  these  hard-crusted 
little  weevil.  Afterward  I  drank  my  soup  without  sldmming. 
It  was  not  that  I  hated  the  weevil  less,  but  that  I  loved  the  sou-p 
more.  It  was  only  another  step  toward  a  closer  conformity  to 
that  grand  rule  which  I  have  made  the  guiding  maxim  of  my  life : 
WJien  I  must.  I  had  letter. 

I  recommend  this  to  other  young  men  starting  on  their  career. 

The  room  in  which  we  were  was  barely  large  enough  for  all 

of  us  to  lie  down  at  once.     Even  then  it  required  pretty  close 

"  spooning  "  together  —  so  close  in  fact  that  all  sleeping  along 

one  side  would  have  to  turn  at  once.    It  was  funny  to  watch 


SKIMHINU    THE  BUGS   FROM  MY  8OUP. 


104  ANDESSOTTTLLEi- 

this  operation.  All,  for  instance,  would  be  lying  on  their  right 
sides.  They  would  begin  to  get  tired,  and  one  of  the  wearied 
ones  would  sing  out  to  the  Sergeant  who  was  in  command  of 
the  row — 

"Sergeant:   let's  spoon  the  other  way." 

That  individual  would  reply : 

"  All  right  Attention  !  LEFT  SPOON !  1  and  the  whole  line 
at  once  flop  over  on  then:  left  sides. 


The  feet  of  the  row  that  slept  along  the  east  wall  on  the  floor 
below  us  were  in  a  line  with  the  edge  of  the  outer  door,  and  a 
chalk  line  drawn  from  the  crack  between  the  door  and  the 
frame  to  the  opposite  wall  would  touch,  say  150  pairs  of  feet. 
They  were  a  noisy  crowd  down  there,  and  one  night  their  noise 
BO  provoked  the  guard  in  front  of  the  door  that  he  called  out 
to  them  to  keep  quiet  or  he  would  fire  in  upon  them.  They 
greeted  this  threat  with  a  chorus  profanely  uncomplimentary  to 
the  purity  of  the  guard's  ancestry;  they  did  not  imply  his 
descent  a  la  Darwin,  from  the  remote  monkey,  but  more  imme 
diate  generation  by  a  common  domestic  animal.  The  incensed 
Kebel  opened  the  door  wide  enough  to  thrust  his  gun  in,  and  he 
fired  directly  down  the  line  of  toes.  His  piece  was  apparently 
loaded  with  buckshot,  and  the  little  balls  must  have  struck  the 
legs,  nipped  off  the  toes,  pierced  the  feet,  and  otherwise  slightly 
woHnded  the  lower  extremities  of  fifty  men.  The  simultaneous 
went  up  wiis  deafening.  It  was  soon  found  out 


A  STORY  OF  REBEL  MTLITAET  PRISOIT8*  105 

nobody  had  been  hurt  seriously,  and  there  was  not  a  little  fun 
over  the  occurrence. 

One  of  the  prisoners  in  Libby  was  Brigadier  General  Neal  Dow, 
of  Maine,  who  had  then  a  National  reputation  as  a  Temperance 
advocate,  and  the  author  of  the  famous  Maine  Liquor  Law. 
We,  whose  places  were  near  the  front  window,  used  to  see  him 
frequently  on  the  street,  accompanied  by  a  guard.  He  was 
allowed,  we  understood,  to  visit  our  sick  in  the  hospital.  TTig 
long,  snowy  beard  and  hair  gave  him  a  venerable  and  com 
manding  appearance. 

Newsboys  seemed  to  be  a.  thing  unknown  in  Richmond.  Tbe 
papers  were  sold  on  the  streets  by  negro  men.  The  one  who 
frequented  our  section  with  the  morning  journals  had  a  mellow, 
rich  baritone  for  which  we  would  be  glad  to  exchange  the  shrill 
cries  of  our  street  Arabs,  "We  long  remembered  him  as  one  of 
the  peculiar  features  of  Richmond.  He  had  one  unvarying  for 
mula  for  proclaiming  his  wares.  It  ran  in  this  wise  •- 
"  Great  Nooze  in  de  jpapahs! 

"  Great  Nooze  from  Orange  Coaht  House,  Vvrginny/ 
"  Great  Xooze  from  Alexandry,  Virginrvy  ! 
"  Great  Nooze  from  Washington  City  ! 
"  Great  Nooze  from  Chattanoogy,  Tennessee  / 
"  Great  Xooze  from  Chahlston,  Sou'  C-ahlina  ! 
"  Great  Nooze  in  de  j?<zpahs  ! " 

It  did  not  matter  to  him  that  the  Rebels 
had  not  been  at  some  of  these  places  for 
months.  He  would  not  change  for  such 
mere  trifles  as  the  entire  evaporation  of  all 
possible  interest  connected  with  Chatta 
nooga  and  Alexandria.  He  was  a  true 
Bourbon  Southerner  —  he  learned  nothing 
and  forgot  nothing. 

There  was  a  considerable  trade  driven 
between  the  prisoners  and  the  guard  at  the 
door.  This  was  a  very  lucrative  position 
for  the  latter,  and  men  of  a  commercial 
*>T.  turn  of  mind  generally  managed  to  get 
gtationed  there.  The  blockade  had  cut  off  the  Confederacy's 
supplies  from  the  outer  world,  and  the  many  trinkets  about  a 


t06 


ANDER30NVILLB. 


man's  person  were  in  good  demand  at  high  prices.  The  men  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  who  were  paid  regularly,  and  were 
always  near  their  supplies,  had  their  pockets  filled  with  combs, 
«i1k  handkerchiefs,  knives,  neckties,  gold  pens,  pencils,  silver 
watches,  playing  cards,  dice,  etc.  Such  of  these  as  escaped 
by  their  captors  and  Dick  Turner,  were  eagerly 


GUARD:  DO  YOU  WANT  TO  BUT  SOME  GREENBACKS  fw 


bought  by  the  guards,  who  paid  fair  prices  in  Confederate 
money,  or  traded  wheat  bread,  tobacco,  daily  papers,  etc.,  for 
them. 

Ther«  was  also  considerable  brokerage  in  money,  and  the 
manner  of  doing  this  was  an  admirable  exemplification  of  the 
folly  of  the  "  liat  "  money  idea.  The  Rebels  exhausted  their 
ingenuity  in  framing  laws  to  sustain  the  purchasing  power  of 
their  paper  money.  It  was  made  legal  tender  for  all  debts 
public  and  private  ;  it  was  decreed  that  the  man  who  refused  to 
it  was  a  public  enemy  ;  all  the  considerations  of  patriotism 
rallied  to  its  support,  and  the  law  provided  that  any 


A  8TOEY  OF  KEBEL  MILITARY  PEKOETa*  Vfl 


citizens  found  trafficking  in  the  money  of  the  enemy  — 
greenbacks,  should  suffer  imprisonment  in  the  Penitentiary,  and 
any  soldier  so  offending  should  suffer  death. 

Notwithstanding  all  this,  in  Richmond,  the  head  and  heart 
of  the  Confederacy,  in  January,  1864  —  long  before  the  Eebel 
cause  began  to  look  at  all  desperate  —  it  took  a  dollar  to  buy 
such  a  loaf  of  bread  as  now  sells  for  ten  cents  ;  a  newspaper  was 
a  half  dollar,  and  everything  else  in  proportion.  And  still 
worse  :  There  was  not  a  day  during  our  stay  in  Richmond  but 
what  one  could  go  to  the  hole  in  the  door  before  which  the 
guard  was  pacing  and  call  out  in  a  loud  whisper  : 

"  Say,  Guard  :  do  you  want  to  buy  some  greenbacks  ?  n 

And  be  sure  that  the  reply  would  be,  after  a  furtive  glajioe 
around  to  see  that  no  officer  was  watching  : 

"  Yes  ;  how  much  do  you  want  for  them  ?  * 

The  reply  was  then  :  "  Ten  for  one." 

"All  right  ;  how  much  have  you  got?  " 

The  Yankee  would  reply;  the  Eebel  would  walk  to  the 
farther  end  of  his  beat,  count  out  the  necessary  amount,  and, 
returning,  put  up  one  hand  with  it,  while  with  the  other  he 
caught  hold  of  one  end  of  the  Yankee's  greenback.  At  the  word, 
both  would  release  their  holds  simultaneously,  the  exchange 
was  complete,  and  the  Rebel  would  pace  industriously  up  and 
down  his  beat  with  the  air  of  the  school  boy  who  "  ain't  been  a- 
doin'  nothing." 

There  was  never  any  risk  in  approaching  any  guard  with  a 
proposition  of  this  kind.  I  never  heard  of  one  refusing  to  trade 
for  greenbacks,  and  if  the  men  on  guard  could  not  be  restrained 
by  these  stringent  laws,  what  hope  could  there  be  of  restraining 
anybody  else  ? 

One  day  we  were  favored  with  a  visit  from  the  redoubtable 
General  John  H.  Morgan,  next  to  J.  E.  B.  Stuart  the  greatest 
of  Rebel  cavalry  leaders.  He  had  lately  escaped  from  the  Ohio 
Penitentiary.  He  was  invited  to  Richmond  to  be  made  a  Major 
General,  and  was  given  a  grand  ovation  by  the  citizens  and  civic 
Government.  He  came  into  our  building  to  visit  a  number  of 
the  First  Kentucky  Cavalry  (  loyal  )  —  captured  at  New  Phila 
delphia,  East  Tennessee  —  whom  he  was  anxious  to  have 
exchanged  for  men  of  his  own  regiment  —  the  First  Kentucky 


108 

Cavalry  (Rebel) — who  were  captured  at  tne  game  time  he  was. 
I  happened  to  get  very  close  to  him  while  he  was  standing 
there  talking  to  his  old  acquaintances,  and  I  made  a  mental 
photograph  of  him,  which  still  retains  all  its  original  distinct 
ness.  He  was  a  tall,  heavy  man,  with  a  full,  coarse,  and  some 
what  dull  face,  and  lazy,  sluggish  gray  eyes.  His  long  black 
hair  was  carefully  oiled,  and  turned  under  at  the  ends,  as  was 
the  custom  with  the  rural  beaux  some  years  ago.  His  face  was 
clean  shaved,  except  a  large,  sandy  goatee.  He  wore  a  high 
silk  hat,  a  black  broadcloth  coat,  Kentucky  jeans  pantaloons, 
neatly  fitting  boots,  and  no  vest.  There  was  nothing  remotely 
suggestive  of  unusual  ability  or  force  of  character,  and  I  thought 
as  I  studied  him  that  the  sting  of  George  D.  Prentice's  bon  mot 
about  him  was  in  its  acrid  truth.  Said  Mr.  Prentice : 

"  Why  don't  somebody  put  a  pistol  to  Basil  Duke's  head,  and 
blow  John  Morgan's  brains  out  I"  [Basil  Duke  was  John 
Aior^an's  right  hand 


CHAPTER  XIL 

REMARKS    AS    TO  NO1TEWCLATTJB*  —  YAtJdNATJOUT   AHI>  TT9 

— 

OF 


—  u  N'YAARKEB'  s,"  THEIB  oHABACxijabiiub,  AiiD  THEIS 


Before  going  any  further  in  this  narrative  ft  may  be  w«H  to 

state  that  the  nomenclature  employed  is  not  used  in  any  odious 
or  disparaging  sense.  It  is  simply  the  adoption  of  the  usual 
teTms  employed  by  the  soldiers  of  both  sides  in  speaking  to  @r 
of  each  other.  We  habitually  spoke  of  them  and  to  them,  as 
*  Rebels,"  and  "  Johnnies  ;  "  they  of  and  to  us,  as  "  Yanks,"  and 
"Yankees."  To.  have  said  "Confederates,"  "Southerners," 
a  Secessionists,"  or  "  Federalists,"  "  Unionists,"  "  Northerners  " 
or  "  Nationalists,"  would  have  seemed  useless  euphemism.  The 
plainer  terms  suited  better,  and  it  was  a  day  when  things  were 
more  important  than  names. 

For  some  inscrutable  reason  the  Rebels  decided  to  vaccinate 
us  all.  Why  they  did  this  has  been  one  of  the  unsolved  prob 
lems  of  my  life.  It  is  true  that  there  was  small  pox  in  the  City, 
and  among  the  prisoners  at  Danville  ;  but  that  any  consider 
ation  for  our  safety  should  have  led  them  to  order  general 
inoculation  is  not  among  the  reasonable  inferences.  But,  be 
that  as  it  may,  vaccination  was  ordered,  and  performed.  :Jy 
great  good  luck  I  was  absent  from  the  building  with  the  squad 
drawing  rations,  when  our  room  was  inoculated,  so  I  escaped 
what  was  an  infliction  to  all,  and  fatal  to  many.  The  direst 
consequences  followed  the  operation.  Foul  ulcers  appeared  on 
various  parts  of  the  bodies  of  the  vaccinated.  la  many 
instances  the  arms  literally  rotted  off  ;  and  death  followed  from 
a  corruption  oi  the  blood.  Frequently  the  faces,  and  other 


HO 

t 

\ 

parts  of  those  who  recovered,  were  disfignred  by  the  ghastly 
cicatrices  of  healed  ulcers.  A  special  friend  of  mine,  Sergeant 
Frank  Beverstock  —  then  a  member  of  the  Third  Virginia  Cav 
alry,  (loyal),  and  after  the  war  a  banker  in  Bowling  Green,  O., 
—bore  upon  his  temple  to  his  dying  day,  (which  occurred  a 
year  ago),  a  fearful  scar,  where  the  flesh  had  sloughed  off  from 
the  effects  of  the  virus  that  had  tainted  his  blood. 

This  I  do  not  pretend  to  account  for.  "We  thought  at  the 
time  that  the  Rebels  had  deliberately  poisoned  the  vaccine 
matter  with  syphilitic  virus,  and  it  was  so  charged  upon  them. 
I  do  not  now  believe  that  this  was  so ;  I  can  hardly  think  that 
members  of  the  humane  profession  of  medicine  would  be  guilty 
of  such  subtle  diabolism  —  worse  even  than  poisoning  the  wells 
from  which  an  enemy  must  drink.  The  explanation  with- 
which  I  have  satisfied  myself  is  that  some  careless  or  stupid 
practitioner  took  the  vaccinating  lymph  from  diseased  human 
bodies,  and  thus  infected  all  with  the  blood  venom,  without  any 
conception  of  what  .he  was  doing.  The  low  standard  of  med 
ical  education  in  the  South  makes  this  theory  quite  plausible. 

"We  now  formed  the  acquaintance  of  a  species  of  human 
vermin  that  united  with  the  Rebels,  cold,  hunger,  lice  and  the 
oppression  of  distraint,  to  leave  nothing  undone  that  could  add 
to  the  miseries  of  our  prison  life.  : 

These  were  the  fledglings  of  the  slums  and  dives  of  New 
York  —  graduates  of  that  metropolitan  sink  of  iniquity  where 
the  rogues  and  criminals  of  the  whole  world  meet  for  mutual 
instruction  in  vice. 

They  were  men  who,  as  a  rule,  had  never  known  a  day  of 
honesty  and  cleanliness  in  their  misspent  lives ;  whose  fathers, 
brothers  and  constant  companions  were  roughs,  malefactors  and 
felons ;  whose  mothers,  wives  and  sisters  were  prostitutes,  pro 
curesses  and  thieves ;  men  who  had  from  infancy  lived  in  an 
atmosphere  of  sin,  until  it  saturated  every  fiber  of  their  being 
as  a  dweller  in  a  jungle  imbibes  malaria  by  every  one  of  his 
millions  of  pores,  until  his  very  marrow  is  surcharged  with  it. 

They  included  representatives  from  all  nationalities,  and  their 
descendants,  but  the  English  and  Irish  elements  predominated. 
They  had  <in  aryot  peculiar  to  themselves.  It  was  partly 
made  up  of  the  "ilasli"  language  of  the  London  thieves, 


A  STOBT  OF  REBEL  MILITABT  PKISON9. 


Ill 


amplified    and    enriched    by    the    cant    vocabulary  and  the 

jargon  of  crime  of  every  Euro 
pean  tongue.  They  spoke  it  with 
a  peculiar  accent  and  intonation 
that  made  them  instantly  recogni 
zable  from  the  roughs  of  all  other 
Cities.  They  called  themselves 
*  N" '  Yaarkers ; "  we  came  to  know 
them  as  "  Kaiders." 

If  everything  in  the  animal 
world  has  its  counterpart  among 
men,  then  these  were  the  wolves, 
jackals  and  hyenas  of  the  race  — 
at  once  cowardly  and  fierce, — 
audaciously  bold  when  the  power 
of  numbers  was  on  their  side,  and 
cowardly  when  confronted  with 
resolution  by  anything  like  an 
equality  of  strength. 
Like  all  other  roughs  and  rascals  of  whatever  degree,  they 
were  utterly  worthless  as  soldiers.  There  may  have  been  in 
the  Army  some  habitual  corner  loafer,  some  fistic  champion  of 
the  bar-room  and  brothel,  some  Terror  of  Plug  Ugly  ville,  who 
was  worth  the  salt  in  the  hard  tack  he  consumed,  but  if  there 
were,  I  did  not  form  his  acquaintance,  and  I  never  heard  of  any 
one  else  who  did.  It  was  the  rule  that  the  man  who  was  the 
readiest  in  the  use  of  fist  and  slungshot  at  home  had  the 
greatest  diffidence  about  forming  a  close  acquaintance  with  cold 
lead  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  front.  Thousands  of  the  so- 
called  "dangerous  classes"  were  recruited,  from  whom  the 
Government  did  not  receive  so  much  service  as  would  pay  for 
the  buttons  on  their  uniforms.  People  expected  that  they 
would  make  themselves  as  troublesome  to  the  Rebels  as  they 
were  to  good  citizens  and  the  Police,  but  they  were  only  pug 
nacious  to  the  provost  guard,  and  terrible  to  the  people  in  the 
rear  of  the  Army  who  had  anything  that  could  be  stolen. 

The  highest  type  of  soldier  which  the  world  has  yet  produced 
is  the  intelligent,  self -respecting  American  boy,  with  home,  and 
father  and  mother  and  friends  behind  him,  and  duty  in  front 


beckoning  h^n  on.  In  the  sixty  centuries  that  war  has  been  a 
profession  no  man  has  entered  its  ranks  so  calmly  resolute  in 
confronting  danger,  so  shrewd  and  energetic  in  his  aggressive 
ness,  so  tenacious  of  the  defense  and  the  assault,  so  certain  to 
rise  swiftly  to  the  level  of  every  emergency,  as  the  boy  who, 
in  the  good  old  phrase,  had  been  "  well-raised  "  in  a  God-fearing 
home,  and  went  to  the  field  in  obedience  to  a  conviction  of 
doty.  TTis  unfailing  courage  and  good  sense  won  fights  that 
the  incompetency  or  cankering  jealousy  of  commanders  had 
lost.  High  officers  were  occasionally  disloyal,  or  willing  to 
sacrifice  their  country  to  personal  pique ;  still  more  frequently 
they  were  ignorant  and  inefficient ;  but  the  enlisted  man  had 
more  than  enough  innate  soldiership  to  make  amends  for  these 
deficiencies,  and  his  superb  conduct  often  brought  honors  and 
promotions  to  those  only  who  deserved  shame  and  disaster. 

Our  "  £P Yaarkers,"  swift  to  see  any  opportunity  for  dishonest 
gain,  had  taken  to  bounty-jumping,  or,  as  they  termed  it, 
"  leppur  the  bounty,"  for  a  livelihood.  Those  who  were  thrust 
in  upon  us  had  followed  this  until  it  had  become  dangerous, 
and  then  deserted  to  the  Rebels.  The  latter  kept  them  at 
Castle  Lightning  for  awhile,  and  then,  rightly  estimating  their 
character,  and  considering  that  it  was  best  to  trade  them  off  for 
a  genuine  Rebel  soldier,  sent  them  in  among  us,  to  be  exchanged 
regularly  with  us.  There  was  not  so  much  good  faith  as  good 
policy  shown  by  this.  It  was  a  matter  of  indifference  to  the 
He  Ms  how  soon  our  Government  shot  these  deserters  after 
getting  them  in  its  hands  again.  They  were  only  anxious  to 
rase  them,  to  get  their  own  men  back. 

Tiie  moment  they  came  into  contact  with  us  our  troubles 
began.  They  stole  whenever  opportunities  offered,  and  they 
were  indefatigable  in  making  these  offer ;  they  robbed  by  actual 
force,  whenever  force  would  avail ;  and  more  obsequious  lick 
spittles  to  power  never  existed  —  they  were  perpetually  on  the 
look-out  for  a  chance  to  curry  favor  by  betraying  some  plan  or 
scheme  to  those  who  guarded  us. 

I  saw  one  day  a  queer  illustration  of  the  audacious  side  of 
these  fellows'  characters,  and  it  shows  at  the  same  time  how 
brazen  effrontery  will  sometimes  get  the  bettor  of  courage.  In 
a  room  in  an  adjacent  building  were  a  number  of  these  fellows, 


•A,  8TOET  OF  BBBEL  MUJTABY  FBISOtfS.  113 

and  a  still  greater  number  of  East  Tennesseeans.  These  Latter 
were  simple,  ignorant  folks,  but  reasonably  courageous.  About 
fifty  of  them  were  sitting  in  a  group  in  one  corner  of  the  room, 
and  near  them  a  couple  or  three  "  N'  Yaarkers."  Suddenly  one 
of  the  latter  said  with  an  oath : 

"  — ,  I  was  robbed  last  night ;  I  lost  two  silver  watches,  a 

couple  of  rings,  and  about  fifty  dollars  in  greenbacks.  I  believe 
some  of  you  fellers  went  through  me." 

This  was  all  pure  invention ;  he  no  more  had  the  things  men 
tioned  than  he  had  purity  of  heart  and  a  Christian  spirit,  but 
the  unsophisticated  Tennesseeans  did  not  dream  of  disputing 
his  statement,  and  answered  in  chorus : 

"  Oh,  no,  mister ;  we  didn't  take  your  things ;  we  ain't  that 
kind." 

This  was  like  the  reply  of  the  lamb  to  the  wolf,  in  the  fable, 
and  the  N'Yaarker  retorted  with  a  simulated  storm  of  passion, 
and  a  torrent  of  oaths : 

" ,  I  know  ye  did ;  I  know  some  uv  ycz  has  got  them ; 

stand  up  agin  the  wall  there  till  I  search  yez !  " 

And  that  whole  fifty  men,  any  one  of*  whom  was  physically 
equal  to  the  N' Yaarker,  and  his  superior  in  point  of  real  courage, 
actually  stood  against  the  wall,  and  submitted  to  being  searched 
and  having  taken  from  them  the  few  Confederate  bills  they  had, 
and  such  trinkets  as  the  searcher  took 

I  was  thoroughly  disgusted. 


OHAPTEE  XHL 

BILLS  ISLE — TERRIBLE  SUFFERING  FROM  COLD  AND  HTTNOEE FATB 

OF  LIEUTENANT  BOISSEUXJS  DOG OUR   COMPANY  MYSTERY  —  TER 
MINATION  OtT  ALL   HOPES  OF  ITS  SOLUTION. 

In  February  my  chum  —  B.  B.  Andrews,  now  a  physician  in 
Astoria,  niinois  —  was  brought  into  our  building,  greatly  to  my 
delight  and  astonishment,  and  from  him  I  obtained  the  much- 
desired  news  as  to  the  fate  of  my  comrades.  He  told  me  they 
had  been  sent  to  Belle  Isle,  whither  he  had  gone,  but  succumb* 
ing  to  the  rigors  of  that  dreadful  place,  he  had  been  taken  to 
the  hospital,  and,  upon  his  convalesence,  placed  in  our  prison. 

Our  men  were  suffering  terribly  on  the  island.  It  was  low, 
damp,  and  swept  by  the  bleak,  piercing  winds  that  howled  up 
and  down  the  surface  of  the  James.  The  first  prisoners  placed 
on  the  island  had  been  given  tents  that  afforded  them  some 
shelter,  but  these  were  all  occupied  when  our  battalion  came  in, 
so  that  they  were  compelled  to  lie  on  the  snow  and  frozen 
ground,  without  shelter,  covering  of  any  kind,  or  fire.  During 
this  time  the  cold  had  been  so  intense  that  the  James  had 
frozen  over  three  times. 

The  rations  had  been  much  worse  than  ours.  The  so-called 
soup  had  been  diluted  to  a  ridiculous  thinness,  and  meat  had 
wholly  disappeared.  So  intense  became  the  craving  for  animal 
food,  that  one  day  when  Lieutenant  Boisseux  —  the  Commandant 
—  strolled  into  the  camp  with  his  beloved  white  bull-terrier, 
which  was  as  fat  as  a  Cheshire  pig,  the  latter  was  decoyed  into 
a  tent,  a  blanket  thrown  over  him,  his  throat  cut  within  a  rod  of 
where  his  master  was  standing,  and  he  was  then  skinned,  cut  up, 
cooked,  and  furnished  a  savory  meal  to  many  hungry  men. 


A  STOBY  OF  REBEL  MILITAItY  PBISOOT. 


115 


When  Boisseux  learned  of  the  fate  of  his  four-footed  friend  he 
was,  of  course,  intensely  enraged,  but  that  was  all  the  good  it  did 
him.  The  only  revenge  possible  was  to  sentence  more  prisoners 
to  ride  the  cruel  wooden  horse  which  he  used  as  a  means  of 
punishment. 

Four  of  our  company  were  already  dead.  Jacob  Lowry  and 
John  Beach  were  standing  near  the  gate  one  day  when  some  one 
snatched  the  guard's  blanket  from  the  poet  where  he  had  hung 
it,  and  ran.  The  enraged  sentry  leveled  his  gun  and  fired  into 
the  crowd.  The  balls  passed  through  Lowry's  and  Beach's 
breasts.  Then  Charley  Osgood,  son  of  our  Lieutenant,  a  qiriet> 


DECOYING    BOISSEUX'S    DOO   TO    ITS    DEATH. 

fair-haired,  pleasant-spoken  bov,  but  as  brave  and  earnest  as 
his  gallant  father,  sank  under  the  combination  of  hunger  and 
cold.  One  stinging  morning  he  was  found  stiff  and  stark,  on 
the  hard  ground,  his  bright,  frank  blue  eyes  glazed  over  in 
death. 

One  of  the  mysteries  of  our  company  was  a  tall,  slender, 
elderly  Scotchman,  who  appeared  on  the  rolls  as  William  Brad 
ford.  "What  his  past  life  had  been,  where  he  had  lived,  what 
his  profession,  whether  married  or  single,  no  one  ever  knew. 
He  came  to  us  while  in  Camp  of  Instruction  near  Springfield, 
Illinois,  and  seemed  to  have  left  all  his  past  behind  him  as  he 
crossed  the  line  of  sentries  around  the  camp.  He  never  received 
any  letters,  and  never  wrote  any ;  never  asked  for  a  furlough 


«*  pass,  aad  ttfser  expressed  a  wisk  to  be  elsewhere  than'ia 
earapk  He  was  coorteons  aad  pieasant,  but  very  reserved.  He 
interfered  with  BO  one,  obeyed  orders  promptly  and  without 
Beanark,  asd  was  always  present  for  duty.  Scrupulously  neat 
in  dress,  always  as  dean-shaved  as  an  old-fashioned  gentleman 
•f  the  worid,  with  manners  aad  conversation  that  showed  him 
to  have  belonged  to  a  refined  and  polished  circle,  he  was  evi- 
den&y  oufc  of  place  as  a  private  soldier  in  a  company  of  reckless 
and  muie-tcKwrefined  young  Dlmois  troopers,  but  he  never 
ayaLted  kimsetf  of  any  of  the  numerous  opportunities  offered  to 
change  his  a^ociations,  TTra  elegant  penmanship  would  have 
aeouied  him  aa  easy  berth  and  better  society  at  headquarters, 
bat  he  declined  to  accept  a  detail.  He  became  an  exciting  mys 
tery^  a  knot  of  us  imaginative  yeung  cubs,  who  sorted  up  out 
of  the  reminiscential  rag-bag  of  high  colors  and  strong  con 
trasts  with  which  the  sensational  literature  that  we  most 
affected  had  plentifully  stored  our  minds,  a  half-dozen  intensely 
emotional  careers  for  hrm.  "We  spent  much  time  in  mentally 
trying  these  on,  and  discussing  which  fitted  him  best.  We 
were  always  expecting  a  denouement  that  would  come  like  a 
lightning  flash  and  reveal  his  whole  mysterious  past,  showing 
him  to  have  been  the  disinherited  scion  of  some  noble  house,  a 
man  of  high  station,  who  was  expiating  some  fearful  crime ;  an 
accomplished  villain  eluding  his  pursuers  —  in  short,  a  Somebody 
who  would  be  a  fitting  hero  for  Miss  Braddon's  or  Wilkie  Col- 
lins's  literary  purposes.  We  never  got  but  two  clues  of  his  past, 
and  they  were  faint  ones.  One  day  he  left  lying  near  me  a 
small  copy  of  "Paradise  Lost,"  that  he  always  carried  with 
Mm.  Turning  over  its  leaves  I  found  all  of  Milton's  bitter 
invectives  against  women  heavily  underscored.  Another  time, 
while  on  guard  with  him,  he  spent  much  of  his  time  in  writing 
some  Latin  verses  in  very  elegant  chirography  upon  the  white 
painted  boards  of  a  fence  along  which  his  beat  ran.  We 
pressed  in  all  the  available  knowledge  of  Latin  about  camp, 
and  found  that  the  tenor  of  the  verses  was  very  uncompliment 
ary  to  that  charming  sex  which  does  us  the  honor  of  being  our 
mothers  and  sweethearts.  These  evidences  we  accepted  as  suf 
ficient  demonstration  that  there  was  a  woman  at  the  bottom  of 
the  niy&tery,  aad.  inu  le  us  more  hnpatienb  for  i'urUitu-  develop- 


A  BTOBY  OF  BEBEL  MILITAET  PBISONS. 


117 


merits.  These  were  never  to  corae.  Bradford  pined  away  on 
Belle  Isle,  and  grew  weaker,  but  no  less  reserved,  each  day. 
At  length,  one  bitter  cold  night  eaded  it  all.  He  was  found 
in  the  morning  stone  dead,  with  his  iron-gray  hair  frozen  fast  to 
the  ground,  upon  which  he  lay.  Our  mystery  had  to  remain 
unsolved.  There  was  nothing  about  his  person  to  give  any 
hint  as  to  his  past. 


^«r-^  _^jv<t=~  *^  ^.          ^^>  ^-^- yv-r— 1     tt^-   „ 


DftAD    BCOTCHJLUU 


OHAPTEE  XIV. 

FOB     EXCHANGE — AN     EXPOSITION     OF     THE    DOGTROT!    OF 

OHANOE8 OFF  FOR  ANDERSONVELLE UNCERTAINTY    AS   TO   OUB 

DESTINATION — ARRIVAL   AT   ANDERSONTTLLE. 

AB  each  lagging  day  closed,  we  confidently  expected  that  the 
next  would  bring  some  news  of  the  eagerly-desired  exchange, 
We  hopefully  assured  each  other  that  the  thing  could  not  be 
delayed  much  longer ;  that  the  Spring  was  near,  the  campaign 
would  soon  open,  and  each  government  would  make  an  effort 
to  get  all  its  men  into  the  field,  and  this  would  bring  about  a 
transfer  of  prisoners.  A  Sergeant  of  the  Seventh  Indiana 
Infantry  stated  his  theory  to  me  this  way : 

"  You  know  I'm  just  old  lightnin'  on  chuck-a-luck.  Now  the 
way  I  bet  is  this :  I  lay  down,  say  on  the  ace,  an'  it  don't 
come  up ;  I  just  double  my  bet  on  the  ace,  an'  keep  on  doublin* 
every  time  it  loses,  until  at  last  it  comes  up  an'  then  I  win  a 
bushel  o'  money,  and  mebbe  bust  the  bank.  You  see  the 
thing's  got  to  come  up  some  time ;  an'  every  time  it  don't  come 
up  makes  it  more  likely  to  come  up  the  next  time.  It's  just 
the  same  way  with  this  'ere  exchange.  The  thing's  got  to  hap 
pen  some  day,  an'  every  day  that  it  don't  happen  increases  the 
chances  that  it  will  happen  the  next  day." 

Some  months  later  I  folded  the  sanguine  Sergeant's  stiffening 
hands  together  across  his  fleshless  ribs,  and  helped  carry  hii 
body  out  to  the  dead-house  at  Andersonville,  in  order  to  get  a 
piece  of  wood  to  cook  my  ration  of  meal  with. 

On  the  evening  of  the  17th  of  February,  1864,  we  were 
ordered  to  get  ready  to  move  at  daybreak  the  next  morning. 
^We  were  certain  this  could  mean  nothing  else  than  exchange, 
and  oar  emulation  was  such  that  we  did  little  sleeping 


A  BTOET  OF  REBEL  MTLITABY  PRISONS.  119 

night.  The  morning  was  very  cold,  but  we  sang  and  joked  as 
we  marched  over  the  creaking  bridge,  on  our  way  to  the  cars. 
We  were  packed  so  tightly  in  these  that  it  was  impossible  to 
even  sit  down,  and  we  roiled  slowly  away  after  a  wheezing 
engine  to  Petersburg,  whence  we  expected  to  march  to  the 
exchange  post.  We  reached  Petersburg  before  noon,  and  the 
cars  halted  there  a  long  time,  we  momentarily  expecting  an 
order  to  get  out.  Then  the  train  started  up  and  moved  out  of 
the  City  toward  the  southeast.  This  was  inexplicable,  but 
after  we  had  proceeded  this  way  for  several  hours  some  one 
conceived  the  idea  that  the  Eebels,  to  avoid  treating  with  But 
ler,  were  taking  us  into  the  Department  of  some  other  com 
mander  to  exchange  us.  This  explanation  satisfied  us,  and  our 
spirits  rose  again. 

Night  found  us  at  Gaston,  N.  C.,  where  we  received  a  few 
crackers  for  rations,  and  changed  cars.  It  was  dark,  and  we 
resorted  to  a  Little  strategy  to  secure  more  room.  About  thirty 
of  us  got  into  a  tight  box  car,  and  immediately  announced  that 
it  was  too  full  to  admit  any  more.  When  an  officer  came  along 
with  another  squad  to  stow  away,  we  would  yell  out  to  him  to 
take  some  of  the  men  out,  as  we  were  crowded  unbearably.  In 
the  mean  time  everybody  in  the  car  would  pack  closely  around 
the  door,  so  as  to  give  the  impression  that  the  car  was  densely 
crowded.  The  Rebel  would  look  convinced,  and  demand  — 

"  Whv,  how  many  men  have  you  got  in  de  cah  ? " 

Then  one  of  us  would  order  the  imaginary  host  in  the  ;n vis 
ible  recesses  to  — 

"  Stand  still  there,  and  be  counted."  while  hs  would  gravely 
count  up  to  one  hundred  or  one  hundred  and  twenty,  which 
was  the  utmost  limit  of  the  car,  and  the  uebel  wouid  hurry  off 
to  put  his  prisoners  somewhere  else.  We  managed  to  play  tiiia 
successfully  during  the  whole  journey,  and  not  only  obtained 
room  to  lie  down  in  the  car,  but  also  drew  three  or  four  times 
as  many  rations  as  were  intended  for  us,  so  that  wiiile  we  at  no 
time  had  enough,  we  were  farther  from  starvation  than  our  less 
strategic  companions. 

The  second  afternoon  we  arrived  at  .Raleigh,  the  capitol  of 
North  Carolina,  and  were  camped  in  a  piece  of  timber,  and 
shortly  after  dark  orders  were  issued  to  us  ail  to  lie  Hat,  on  the 


120  A3 

ground  and  not  rise  up  till  daylight.  About  the  middle  of  the 
night  a  man  belonging  to  a  New  Jersey  regiment,  who  had 
apparently  forgotten  the  order,  stood  up,  and  was  immediately 
ghot  dead  by  tie  guard. 

For  four  or  five  days  more  the  decrepit  little  locomotive 
gtrained  along,  dragging  after  it  the '  rattling  old  cars.  The 
scenery  was  intensely  monotonous.  It  was  a  flat,  almost 
unending,  stretch  of  pine  barrens  and  the  land  so  poor  that  a  dis 
gusted  ILLinoisan,  used  to  the  fertility  of  the  great  American 
Bottom,  said  rather  strongly,  that, 

"  By  George,  they'd  have  to  manure  this  ground  before  they 
could  even  make  brick  out  of  it." 

It  was  a  surprise  to  all  of  us  who  had  heard  so  much  of  the 
wealth  of  Virginia,  Xorth  Carolina,  South  Carolina  arid  Geor 
gia,  to  find  the  soil  a  sterile  sand  bank,  interspersed  with 
swamps. 

We  had  still  no  idea  of  where  we  were  going.  We  only 
knew  that  our  general  course  was  southward,  and  that  we  had 
passed  through  the  Carolinas,  and  were  in  Georgia.  We  fur 
bished  up  our  school  knowledge  of  geography  and  endeavored 
to  recall  something  of  the  location  of  Haleigh,  Charlotte, 
Columbia  and  Augusta,  through  which  we  passed,  but  the 
attempt  was  not  a  success. 

Late  on  the  afternoon  of  the  25th  of  February  the  Seventh 
Indiana  Sergeant  approached  me  with  the  inquiry : 

"  Do  you  know  where  Macon  is  ? " 

The  place  had  not  then  become  as  well  known  as  it  was 
afterward. 

It  seemed  to  me  that  I  had  read  something  of  Macon  in 
Revolutionary  history,  and  that  it  was  a  fort  on  the  sea  coast. 
He  said  tnat  the  guard  had  told  him  that  we  were  to  be  taken 
to  a  point  near  that  place,  and  we  agreed  that  it  was  probably 
a  new  place  of  exchange.  A  little  later  we  passed  through  the 
town  of  Macon,  Ga>,  and  turned  upon  a  road  that  led  almost 
due  south. 

About  midnight  the  train  stopped,  and  we  were  ordered  off. 
"We  were  in  the  midst  of  a  forest  of  tall  trees  that  loaded  the 
air  with  the  heavy  balsamic  odor  peculiar  to  pine  trees.  A  few 
mail  rude  houses  were  scattered  around  near. 


A  BTORT  OF  E.KBEL  iOUTAKT  P&ISOXS. 

Stretching  out  into  the  darkness  was  a  double  row  of  great 
heaps  of  burning  pitch  pine,  that  smoked  and  flamed  fiercely, 
and  lit  up  a  little  space  around  in  the  somber  forest  with  a 
ruddy  glare.  Between  these  two  rows  lay  a  road,  which  we 
were  ordered  to  take. 

The  scene  was  weird  and  uncanny.  I  had  recently  read  the 
"  Iliad,"  and  the  long  lines  of  huge  fires  reminded  me  of  that 
goene  in  the  first  book,  where  the  Greeks  burn  on  the  sea  shore 
the  bodies  of  those  smitten  by  Apollo's  pestilentiaTarrows : 

For  nine  long  nighta,  through  all  the  dusky  air. 
The  pyre*,  thick  flaming,  shot  a  dismal  glare. 

Five  hundred  weary  men  moved  along  slowly  through 
double  lines  of  guards.  Five  hundred  men  marched  silently 
towards  the  gates  that  were  to  shut  out  life  and  hope  from 
most  of  them  forever.  A  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  railroad  we 
came  to  a  massive  palisade  of  great  squared  logs  standing 
upright  in  the  ground.  The  fires  blazed  up  and  showed  us  a 
section  of  these,  and  two  massive  wooden  gates,  with  heavy 
iron  hinges  and  bolts.  They  swung  open  as  we  stood  there 
wid  we  passed  through  into  the  space  beyond. 

We  were  in  Anderson  villa, 


CIIAPTETl  XV. 

GEORGIA A     LEAN     AND     HUNGRY     LAND DITFTJRENCE    BiLTWKM 

UPPttfi     AND     LOWER     GEORGIA THE     VILLAGE     OF      ANDERSOH- 

VTLLE. 

A  8  the  next  nine  months  of  the  existence  of  those  of  us  who 
survived  were  spent  in  intimate  connection  with  the  soil  of 
Georgia,  and,  as  it  exercised  a  potential  influence  upon'  our 
comfort  and  well-being,  or  rather  lack  of  these  —  a  mention  of 
some  6f  its  peculiar  characteristics  may  help  the  reader  to  & 
fuller  comprehension  of  the  conditions  surrounding  us — our 
environment,  as  Darwin  would  say. 

Georgia,  which,  next  to  Texas,  is  the  largest  State  in  the 
South,  and  has  nearly  twenty-five  per  cent,  more  area  than  the 
great  State  of  New  York,  is  divided  into  two  distinct  and 
widely  differing  sections,  by  a  geological  line  extending  directly 
across  the  State  from  Augusta,  on  the  Savannah  Kiver,  through 
Macon,  on  the  Ocmulgee,  to  Columbus,  on  the  Chattahoochie. 
That  part  lying  to  the  north  and  west  of  this  line  is  usually 
spoken  of  as  "  Upper  Georgia ;  "  while  that  lying  to  the  south 
and  east,  extending  to  the  Atlantic  Oceaji  and  the  Florida  line, 
is  called  "  Lower  Georgia."  In  this  part  of  the  State  —  though 
far  removed  from  each  other  —  were  the  prisons  of  Anderson- 
ville,  Savannah,  Millen  and  Blackshear,  in  which  we  were  incar 
cerated  one  after  the  other. 

Upper  Georgia  —  the  capital  of  which  is  Atlanta  —  is  a  fruit- 
lul,  productive,  metalliferous  region,  that  will  in  time  become 
quite  wealthy.  Lower  Georgia,  which  has  an  extent  about 
equal  to  that  of  Indiana,  is  not  only  poorer  now  than  a  worn- 


A  STOXY  OF  BSBEL  MH£T*BY  PSISONS,  135 

oot  province  of  Asia  Elinor,  but  in  all  probability  will  ever 
remain  so. 

It  is  a  starved,  sterile  land,  impressing  one  as  a  desert  in  the 
first  stages  of  reclamation  into  productive  soil,  or  a  productive 
soil  in  the  last  steps  of  deterioration  into  a  desert.  It  is  a 
vast  expanse  of  arid,  yellow  sand,  broken  at  intervals  by  foul 
swamps,  with  a  jungle-like  growth  of  unwholesome  vegetation, 
and  teeming  with  venomous  snakes,  and  all  manner  of  hideous 
crawling  things. 

The  original  forest  still  stands  almost  unbroken  on  this  wide 
stretch  of  thirty  thousand  square  miles,  but  it  does  not  cover  it 
as  we  say  of  forests  in  more  favored  lands.  The  tall,  solemn 
pines,  upright  and  symmetrical  as  huge  masts,  and  wholly  des 
titute  of  limbs,  except  the  little,  umbrella-like  crest  at  the  very 
top,  stand  far  apart  from  each  other  in  an  unfriendly  isolation. 
There  is  no  fraternal  interlacing  of  branches  to  form  a  kindly, 
umbrageous  shadow.  Between  them  is  no  genial  undergrowth 
of  vines,  shrubs,  and  demi-trees,  generous  in  fruits,  berries  and 
nuts,  such  as  make  one  of  the  charms  of  Northern  forests.  On 
the  ground  is  no  rich,  springing  sod  of  emerald  green,  fragrant 
with  the  elusive  sweetness  of  white  clover,  and  dainty  flowers, 
but  a  sparse,  wiry,  famished  grass,  scattered  thinly  over  'the 
surface  in  tufts  and  patches,  like  the  hair  on  a  mangy  cur. 

The  giast  pines  seem  to  have  sucked  up  into  their  immense 
boles  all  the  nutriment  in  the  earth,  and  starved  out  every 
minor  growth.  So  wide  and  clean  is  the  space  between  them, 
that  one  can  look  through  the  forest  in  any  direction  for  miles, 
with  almost  as  little  interference  with  the  view  as  on  a  prairie. 
In  the  swampier  parts  the  trees  are  lower,  and  their  limbs  are 
hung  with  heavy  festoons  of  the  gloomy  Spanish  moss,  or 
"  death  moss,"  as  it  is  more  frequently  called,  because  where  it 
grows  rankest  the  malaria  is  the  deadliest.  Everywhere  Nature 
seems  sad,  subdued  and  somber. 

I  have  long  eatertained  a,  peculiar  theory  to  account  for  the 
decadence  and  ruin  of  countries.  My  reading  of  the  world's 
history  seems  to  teach  me  tkat  when  a  strong  people  take  pos 
session  of  a  fertile  land,  they  reduce  it  to  cultivation,  thrive 
upon  its  bountifulness,  multiply  into  millions  the  mouths  to  be 
fed  from  it,  tax  it  to  the  last  limit  of  production  of  the  necea- 


126  AHDXB80NTTLLE. 

saries  of  life,  take  from  it  continually,  and  give  nothing  back, 
starve  and  overwork  it  as  cruel,  grasping  men  do  a  servant  or  a 
beast,  and  when  at  last  it  breaks  down  under  the  strain,  it 
revenges  itself  by  starving  many  of  them  with  great  famines, 
while  the  others  go  off  in  search  of  new  countries  to  put 
through  the  same  process  of  exhaustion.  We  have  seen  one  coun 
try  after  another  undergo  this  process  as  the  seat  of  empire  took 
its  westward  way,  from  the  cradle  of  the  race  on  the  banks  of 
the  Oxus  to  the  fertile  plains  in  the  Yalley  of  the  Euphrates, 
Impoverishing  these,  men  next  sought  the  Yalley  of  the  Nile, 
then  the  Grecian  Peninsula;  next  Syracuse  and  the  Italian 
Peninsula,  then  the  Iberian  Peninsula,  and  the  African  shores 
of  the  Mediterranean.  Exhausting  all  these,  they  were  deserted 
for  the  French,  German  and  English  portions  of  Europe.  The 
turn  of  the  latter  is  now  come ;  famines  are  becoming  terribly 
frequent,  and  mankind  is  pouring  into  the  virgin  fields  of 
America. 

Lower  Georgia,  the  Carolinas  and  Eastern  Virginia  have  all 
the  characteristics  of  these  starved  and  worn-out  lands.  It 
would  seem,  as  if,  away  back  in  the  distance  of  ages,  some 
numerous  and  civilized  race  had.  drained  from  the  soil  the  last 
atom  of  food-producing  .constituents,  and  that  it  is  now  slowly 
gathering  back,  as  the  centuries  pass,  the  elements  that  have 
been  wrung  from  the  land. 

Lower  Georgia  is  very  thinly  settled.  Much  of  the  land  is 
still  in  the  hands  of  the  Government.  The  three  or  four  rail 
roads  which  pass  through  it  have  little  reference  to  local  traffic. 
There  are  no  towns  along  them  as  a  rule ;  stations  are  made 
every  ten  miles,  and  not  named,  but  numbered,  as  "  Station 
No.  4" —  "No.  10,"  etc.  The  roads  were  built  as  through 
lines,  to  bring  to  the  seaboard  the  rich  products  of  the  interior. 

Andersonville  is  one  of  the  few  stations  dignified  with  a 
name,  probably  because  it  contained  some  half  dozen  of  shabby 
houses,  whereas  at  the  others  there  was  usually  nothing  more 
than  a  mere  open  shed,  to  shelter  goods  and  travelers.  It  is  on 
a  rudely  constructed,  rickety  railroad,  that  runs  from  Macon 
to  Albany,  the  head  of  navigation  on  the  Flint  Kiver,  which  is 
one  hundred  and  six  miles  from  Macon,  and  two  hundred  and 
fifty  froia  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Andsrsonville  is  about  sixty 


A  BTOKT  OF  REBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS.  127 

miles  from  Macon,  and,  consequently,  abont  three  hundred 
miles  from  the  Gulf.  The  camp  was  merely  a  hole  cut  in  the 
wilderness.  It  was  as  remote  a  point  from  our  armies,  as  they 
then  lay,  as  the  Southern  Confederacy  could  give.  The  near 
est  was  Sherman,  at  Chattanooga,  four  hundred  miles  away, 
and  on  the  other  side  of  a  range  of  mountains  hundreds  of  miles 
wide. 

To  us  it  seemed  beyond  the  last  forlorn  limits  of  civilization. 
We  felt  that  we  were  more  completely  at  the  mercy  of  our  foes 
than  ever.  While  in  Richmond  we  were  in  the  heart  of  the 
Confederacy ;  we  were  in  the  midst  of  the  Rebel  military  and 
civil  force,  and  were  surrounded  on  every  hand  by  visible  evi 
dences  of  the  great  magnitude  of  that  power,  but  this,  while  it 
enforced  our  ready  submission,  did  not  overawe  us  depressingly, 
We  knew  that  though  the  Rebels  were  all  about  us  in  great 
force,  our  own  men  were  also  near,  and  in  still  greater  force  — 
that  while  they  were  very  strong  our  army  was  still  stronger, 
and  there  was  no  telling  what  day  this  superiority  of  strength 
might  be  demonstrated  in  such  a  way  as  to  decisively  benefit  Uf. 

But  here  we  felt  as  did  the  Ancient  Mariner ; 

Alone  on  a  wide,  wide  sea, 

Bo  lonely  'twas  that  God  himtctf 

•ca*C«  MOBM£  Uiora  to  tab 


CHAPTER 


WAXING  UP  IN  ANDEBSONVILLE  -  SOME  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  PLAOS 
-  OUR  FIRST  MATT.  -  BUILDING  SHELTER  -  GEN.  WINDES  -  HIM 
SELF  AND  LINEAGE. 

We  roused  up  promptly  with  the  dawn  to  take  a  survey  of 
our  new  abiding  place.  We  found  ourselves  in  an  immense 
pen,  about  one  thousand  feet  long  by  eight  hundred  wide,  as  a 
young  surveyor  —  a  member  of  the  Thirty-fourth  Ohio  —  in 
formed  us  after  he  had  paced  it  off.  He  estimated  that  it  con 
tained  about  sixteen  acres.  The  walls  were  formed  by  pine 
logs  twenty-five  feet  long,  from  two  to  three  feet  in  diameter, 
hewn  square,  set  into  the  ground  to  a  depth  of  five  feet,  and 
placed  so  close  together  as  to  leave  no  crack  through  which  the 
country  outside  could  be  seen.  There  being  five  feet  of  the 
logs  in  the  ground,  the  wall  was,  of  course,  twenty  feet  high. 
This  manner  of  enclosure  was  in  some  respects  superior  to  a 
wall  of  masonry.  It  was  equally  unscalable,  and  much  more 
difficult  to  undermine  01  batter  down. 

The  pen  was  longest  due  north  and  south.  It  was  divided 
in  the  center  by  a  creek  about  a  yard  wide  and  ten  inches  deep, 
running  from  west  to  east.  On  each  side  of  this  was  a  quaking 
bog  of  slimy  ooze  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  wide,  and  so  yield 
ing  that  one  attempting  to  walk  upon  it  would  sink  to  the 
waist.  From  this  swamp  the  sandhills  sloped  north  and  south 
to  the  stockade.  All  the  trees  inside  the  stockade,  save  two, 
had  been  cut  down  and  used  in  its  construction.  AH  the  rank 
vegetation  of  the  swamp  had  also  been  cut  off. 

There  were  two  entrances  to  the  stockade,  one  on  each  side 
&f  the  o.'gqk'j  midway  between  it  and  the  ends,  ^TUJ  pa,i]<vl  r^ 


A  STORY  07  REBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS. 

epectively  the  "  North  Gate  "  and  the  "  South  Gate."  These 
were  constructed  double,  by  building  smaller  stockades  around 
them  on  the  outside,  with  another  set  of  gates.  When  prison 
ers  or  wagons  with  rations  were  brought  in,  they  were  first 
brought  inside  the  outer  gates,  which  were  carefully  secured, 
before  the  inner  gates  were  opened.  This  was  done  to  prevent 
the  gates  being  carried  by  a  rush  by  those  confined  inside. 

At  regular  intervals  along  the  palisades  were  little  perches, 
upon  which  stood  guards,  who  overlooked  the  whole  inside  of 
the  prison. 

The  only  view  we  had  of  the  outside  was  that  obtained  by 
looking  from  the  highest  points  of  the  North  or  South  Sides 
across  the  depression  where  the  stockade  crossed  the  swamp. 
In  this  vray  we  could  see  about  forty  acres  at  a  time  of  the  ad 
joining  woodland,  or  say  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  altogeth 
er,  and  this  meager  landscape  had  to  content  us  for  the  next 
half  year. 

Before  our  inspection  was  finished,  a  wagon  drove  in  with 
rations,  and  a  quart  of  meal,  a  sweet  potato  and  a  few  ounces 
of  salt  beef  were  issued  to  each  one  of  us. 

In  a  few  minutes  we  were  all^  hard  at  work  preparing  our 
first  meal  in  Anderson ville.  The  debris  of  the  forest  left  a 
temporary  abundance  of  fuel,  and  we  had  already  a  cheerful 
fire  blazing  for  every  little  squad.  There  were  a  number  of 
tobacco  presses  in  the  rooms  we  occupied  in  Richmond,  and  to 
each  of  these  was  a  quantity  of  sheets  of  tin,  evidently  used  to 
put  between  the  layers  of  tobacco.  The  deft  hands  of  the 
mechanics  among  us  bent  these  up  into  square  pans,  which 
were  real  handy  cooking  utensils,  holding  about  a  quart. 
Water  was  carried  in  them  from  the  creek  ;  the  meal  mixed  in 
them  to  a  dough,  or  else  boiled  as  mush  in  the  same  vessels ; 
the  potatoes  were  boiled ;  and  their  final  service  was  to  hold  a 
little  meal  to  be  carefully  browned,  and  then  water  boiled  upon 
it,  so  as  to  form  a  feeble  imitation  of  coffee.  I  found  my  edu 
cation  at  Jonesville  in  the  art  of  baking  a  hoe-cake  now  came  in 
gQod  play,  both  for  myself  and  companions.  Taking  one  of 
the  pieces  of  tin  vrhich  had  not  Vet  been  made  into  a  pan.  we 
spread  upon  it  a  layer  of  dough  about  a  half-inch  thick.  Prop 
ping  this  up  nearly  upright  before  the  fire,  it  was  soon  nicely 


130  UTDERSONVILLE. 

browned  ,oyer.     This  process  made  it  sweat  itself  loose  from 
the  tin,  when  it  was  turned  over  and  the  bottom  browned  also. 

Save  that  it  was  destitute  of  salt,  it 
was  quite  a  toothsome  bit  of  nutri 
ment  for  a  hungry  man,  and  I 
recommend  my  readers  to  try 
making  a  "pone"  of  this  kind 
once,  just  to  see  what  it  was  like. 
The  supreme  indifference  with 
which  the  Rebels  always  treated 
the  matter  of  cooking  utensils  for 
us,  excited  my  wonder.  It  never 
semed  to  occur  to  them  that  we 

OOOKHW  RATIOOT. 


sels  for  our  food  than  cattle  or  swine.  Never,  during  my  whole 
prison  life,  did  I  see  so  much  as  a  tin  cup  or  a  bucket  issued  to 
a  prisoner.  Starving  men  were  driven  to  all  sorts  of  shifts  for 
want  of  these.  Pantaloons  or  coats  were  pulled  off  and  their 
sleeves  or  legs  used  to  draw  a  mess's  meal  in.  Boots  were  com 
mon  vessels  for  carrying  water,  and  when  the  feet  of  these  gave 
way  the  legs  were  ingeniously  closed  up  with  pine  pegs,  so  as  to 
form  rude  leathern  buckets.  •  Men  whose  pocket  knives  had 
escaped  the  search  at  the  gates  made  very  ingenious  little 
tubs  and  buckets,  and  these  devices  enabled  us  to  get  along 
after  a  fashion. 

After  our  meal  was  disposed  of,  we  held  a  council  on  the 
situation.  Though  we  had  been  sadly  disappointed  in  not 
being  exchanged,  it  seemed  that  on  the  whole  our  condition 
had  been  bettered.  This  first  ration  was  a  decided  improve 
ment  on  those  of  the  Pemberton  building ;  we  had  left  the 
snow  and  ice  behind  at  Richmond  —  or  rather  at  some  place 
between  Raleigh,  K.  C.,  and  Columbia,  S.  C. — and  the  air  here, 
though  chill,  was  not  nipping,  but  bracing.  It  looked  as  if  we 
would  have  a  plenty  of  wood  for  shelter  and  fuel ;  it  was  certainly 
better  to  have  sixteen  acres  to  roam  over  than  tlie  stifling  con 
fines  of  a  building ;  and,  still  better,  it  seemed  as  if  there  would 
be  plenty  of  opportunities  to  get  beyond  the  stockade,  and 
attempt  a  journey  through  the  woods  to  that  blissful  land — 
"Our  lines," 


A  8TOST  Or  BZBSL  mLTTAST  PBI80NS  131 

"We  settled  down  to  make  the  best  of  things.  A  Rebel  Ser 
geant  cams  in  presently  and  arranged  us  in  hundreds.  We 
subdivided  these  into  messes  of  twenty-five,  and  began  devising 
means  for  shelter.  Nothing  showed  the  inborn  capacity  of  the 
Northern  soldier  to  take  care  of  himself  better  than  the  way 
in  which  we  accomplished  this  with  the  rude  materials  at  our 
command.  No  ax,  spade  nor  mattock  was  allowed  us  by  the 
Rebels,  who  treated  us  in  regard  to  these  the  same  as  in  respect 
to  culinary  vessels.  The  only  tools  were  a  few  pocket-knives, 
and  perhaps  half-a-dozen  hatchets  which  some  infantrymen  — 
principally  members  of  the  Third  Michigan  —  were  allowed  to* 
retain.  Yet,  despite  all  these  drawbacks,  we  had  quite  a  village 
of  huts  erected  in  a  few  days, — nearly  enough,  in  fact,  to  afford 
tolerable  shelter  for  the  whole  five  hundred  of  us  first-comers. 

The  withes  and  poles  that  grew  in  the  swamp  were  bent  into 
the  shape  of  the  semi-circular  bows  that  support  the  eanvas 
covers  of  army  wagons,  and  both  ends  thrust  in  the  ground. 
These  formed  the  timbers  of  our  dwellings.  They  were  held 
in  place  by  weaving  in,  basket-wise,  a  network  of  briers  and 
vines.  Tufts  of  the  long  leaves  which  are  the  distinguishing 
characteristic  of  the  "Georgia  pine  (popularly  known  as  the 
"long-leaved  pine")  were  wrought  into  this  network  until  a 
thatch  was  formed,  that  was  a  fair  protection  against  the  rain 
—  it  was  like  the  Irishman's  unglazed  window-sash,  which 
"  kep'  out  the  coarsest  uv  the  cold." 

The  results  accomplished  were  as  astonishing  to  us  as  to  the 
Rebels,  who  would  have  lain  unsheltered  upon  the  sand  until 
bleached  out  like  field-rotted  flax,  before  thinking  to  protect 
themselves  in  this  way.  As  our  village  was  approaching  com 
pletion,  the  Rebel  Sergeant  who  called  the  roll  entered.  He 
TTOS  very  odd-looking.  The  cervical  muscles  were  distorted  in 
such  a  way  as  to  suggest  to  us  the  name  of  "Wry-necked 
Smith,'-  by  which  we  always  designated  him.  Pete  Bates,  of 
the  Third  Michigan,  who  was  the  wag  of  our  squad,  accounted 
for  Smith's  condition  by  saying  that  while  on  dress  parade  once 
the  Colonel  of  Smith's  regiment  had  commanded  "  eyes  right," 
and  then  forgot  to  give  the  order  "  front."  Smith,  being  a 
good  soldier,  had  kept  his  eyes  in  the  position  of  gazing  at  the 
buttons  of  the  third  man  to  the  right,  waiting  for  the  order  to 


132 


restore  thorn  to  their  natural  direction,  until  they  had  become 
permanently  fixed  in  their  obliquity  and  he  was  compelled  to 
go  through  life  taking  a  biased  view  of  all  things. 

Smith  walked  in,  made  a  diagonal  survey  of  the  encampment, 
which,  if  he  had  ever  seen  "  Mitchell's  Geography,"  probably 
reminded  him  of  the  picture  of  a  Kaffir  village,  in  that  instruct^ 
ive  but  awfully  dull  book,  and  then  expressed  the  opinion  that 
usually  welled  up  to  every  Eebel's  lips  : 

"Well,  I'll  be  durned,  if  you  Yanks  don't  just  beat  the 
deviL" 

*  Of  course,  we  replied  with  the  well-worn  prison  joke,  that  we 
supposed  we  did,  as  we  beat  the  Kebels,  who  were  worse  than 
the  devil. 

There  rode  in  among  us,  a  few  days  after  our  arrival,  an  old 
man.  whose  collar  bore  the  wreathed  stars  of  a  Major  General. 
Heavy  white  locks  fell  from  beneath  his  slouched  hat,  nearly 
to  his  shoulders.  Sunken  gray  eyes,  too  dull  and  cold  to  light 
up,  marked  a  hard,  stony  face,  the  salient  feature  of  which  was 

a  thin-lipped,  compressed  mouth, 
with  corners  drawn  down  deeply 
—  the  mouth  which  seems  the 
world  over  to  be  the  index  of  sel 
fish,  cruel,  sulky  malignance. 
It  is  such  a  mouth  as  has  the 
school-boy  —  the  coward  of  the 
play  ground,  who  delights  in 
pulling  off  the  wings  of  flies. 
It  is  such  a  mouth  as  we  can 
imagine  some  remorseless  inquis 
itor  to  have  had  —  that  is,  not  an 
inquisitor  filled  with  holy  zeal 
for  what  he  mistakenly  thought 
the  cause  of  Christ  demanded, 


Imt  a  spleeny,  envious,  rancorous  shaveling,  who  tortured  men 
from  hatred  of  their  superiority  to  him,  and  sheer  love  of 
inflicting  pain. 

The  rider   was   John  H.  Winder,  Commissary  General  of 
Prisoners,  Ealtimorean    renegade   and  the   malign   genius   to 
sli£*&  ^  charged  the  deaths  of  more  gallant 


A  iTOBY  OF  BEBEL  MUJTABY  PRISONS.  133 

men  than  all  the  inquisitors  of  the  world  ever  slew  by  the  less 
dreadful  rack  and  wheel.  It  was  he  who  in  August  could  point 
to  the  three  thousand  and  eighty -one  new  made  graves  for  that 
month,  and  exultingly  tell  bis  hearer  that  he  was  "doing  more 
for  the  Confederacy  than  twenty  regiments." 

His  lineage  was  in  accordance  with  his  character*.  Ilis 
father  was  that  General  William  II.  Winder,  whose  poltroon 
ery  at  Bladensburg,  in  1814,  nullified  the  resistance  of  the 
gallant  Commodore  Barney,  and  gave  "Washington  to  the 
British. 

The   father  was   a   coward  and  an  incompetent;    the  son,' 
always  cautiously  distant  from  the  scene  of  hostilities,  was  the 
tormentor  of  those  whom  the  fortunes  of  war,  and  the  arms 
of  brave  men  threw  into  his  hands. 

Winder  gazed  at  us  stonily  for  a  few  minutes  without  speak 
ing,  and,  turning,  rode  out  again. 

Our  troubles,  from  that  hour,  rapidly  increased. 


CHAPTER  XYEL 

THE  PLAHTATION  NESBO8  —  NOT  STUPID  TO  BE  LOYAL — THTCOt  DTTHT* 
BAMBIO   MUSIC COPPERHEAD   OPINION   OF   LONGFELLOW. 

The  stockade  was  not  quite  finished  at  the  time  of  our 
arrival  —  a  gap  of  several  hundred  feet  appearing  at  the  south 
west  corner.  A  gang  of  about  two  hundred  negros  were  at 
work  felling  trees,  hewing  logs,  and  'placing  them  upright  in 
the  trenches.  We  had  an  opportunity  —  soon  to  disappear  for 
ever  —  of  studying  the  workings  of  the  "  peculiar  institution  " 
in  its  very  home.  The  negros  were  of  the  lowest  field-hand 
class,  strong,  dull,  ox-like,  but  each  having  in  our  eyes  an 
admixture  of  cunning  and  secretiveness  that  their  masters  pre 
tended  was  not  in  them.  Their  demeanor  toward  us  illustrated 
this.  "We  were  the  objects  of  the  most  supreme  interest  to 
them,  but  when  near  us  and  in  the  presence  of  a  white  Rebel, 
this  interest  took  the  shape  of  stupid,  open-eyed,  open-mouthed 
wonder,  something  akin  to  the  look  on  the  face  of  the  rustic 
lout,  gazing  for  the  first  time  upon  a  locomotive  or  a  steam 
threshing  machine.  But  if  chance  threw  one  of  them  near  us  when 
he  thought  himself  unobserved  by  the  Rebels,  the  blank,  vacant 
face  lighted  up  with  an  entirely  different  expression.  He  was  no 
longer  the  credulous  yokel  who  believed  the  Yankees  were  only 
slightly  modified  devils,  ready  at  any  instant  to  return  to  their 
original  horn-and-tail  condition  and  snatch  him  away  to  the 
bluest  kind  of  perdition ;  he  knew,  apparently  quite  as  well  as 
his  master,  that  they  were  in  some  way  his  friends  and  allies, 
and  he  lost  no  opportunity  in  communicating  his  appreciation 
of  that  fact,  and  of  offering  his  services  in  any  possible  way. 
these  offers  were  sincere.  It  is  the  testimony  of  ereorj 


A  STORY  OF  REBEL  ^TILITAEY  PRISONS. 


135 


Union  prisoner  in  the  South  that  he  was  never  betrayed  by  or 
disappointed  in  a  field  negro,  but  could  always  approach  any 


A    FIELD    HAND. 

one  of  them  with  perfect  confidence  in  his  extending  all  the  aid 
-in  his  power,  whether  as  a  guide  to  escape,  as  sentinel  to  signal 
danger,  or  a  purveyor  of  food.  These  services  were  frequently 
attended  with  the  greatest  personal  risk,  but  they  were  none 
the  less  readily  undertaken.  This  applies  only  to  the  field- 
hands  ;  the  house  servants  were  treacherous  and  wholly  un 
reliable.  Very  many  of  our  men  who  managed  to  get  away 
from  the  prisons  were  recaptured  through  their  betrayal  by 
house  servants,  but  none  were  retaken  where  a  field  hand  could 
prevent  it. 

We  were  much  interested  in  watching  the  negro  work 
They  wove  in  a  great  deal  of  their  peculiar,  wild,  mournful 
music,  whenever  the  character  of  the  labor  permitted.  They 
seemed  to  sing  the  music  for  the  music's  sake  alone,  and  were 
as  heedless  of  the  fitness  of  the  accompanying  words,  as  the 
composer  of  a  modern  opera  is  of  his  libretto.  One  iniddle- 
as;ed  man,  vrith  a  powerful,  mellow  baritone,  like  the  round, 
full  notes  of  a  French  horn,  played  by  a  virtuoso^  was  the 


AJTDEBflONVILLJi. 

musical  leader  of  the  party.  He  never  seemed  to  bother  him 
self  about  air,  notes  or  words,  but  improvised  all  as  he  went 
along,  and  he  sang  as  the  spirit  moved  him.  lie  would  sud 
denly  break  out  with  — 

"  Ob,  he'g  gone  up  dab,  nevah  to  come  back  agin," 

At  this  every  darkey  within  hearing  would  roll  out,  in 
admirable  consonance  with  the  pitch,  air  and  time  started  by 
the  leader — 

••  O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o- o-o-o-o  1 " 

Then  would  ring  out  from  the  leader  as  from  the  throbbing 
lips  of  a  silver  trumpet  — 

"  Lord  bresfl  him  Bonl;  I  done  bope  be  is  happy  now  !  " 

And  the  antiphonal  two  hundred  would  chant  back  — • 

M  O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-«-o-oJ " 

And  so  on  for  hours.  They  never  seemed  to  weary  of 
singing,  and  we  certainly  did  not  of  listening  to  them.  The 
absolute  independence  of  the  conventionalities  of  tune  and 
sentiment,  gave  them  freedom  to  wander  through  a  kaleideo- 
scopic  variety  of  harmonic  effects,  as  spontaneous  and  change 
ful  as  the  song  of  a  bird. 

I  sat  one  evening,  long  after  the  shadows  of  night  had 
fallen  upon  the  hillside,  with  one  of  my  chums  —  a  Frank 
Berkstresser,  of  the  Ninth  Maryland  Infantry,  who  before  enlist 
ing  was  a  mathematical  tutor  in  college  at  Hancock,  Maryland. 
As  we  listened  to  the  unwearying  flow  of  melody  from  the 
camp  of  the  laborers,  I  thought  of  and  repeated  to  him  Long 
fellow's  fine  lines : — 

THE  SLAVE  SINGING  AT  MIDNIGHT. 
•  •  •  •  •  » 

And  tbe  voice  of  bis  devotion 

Pilled  raj  goal  witb  strong  eraodou ;  « 

For  its  tones  by  turns  were  glad 
Sweetly  solemn,  wildly  sad. 

Paul  and  Silas,  in  tbeir  prison, 
Bang  of  Christ,  tbe  Lord  arisen, 
And  an  earthquake's  arm  of  might 
Broke  tbeir  dungeon  gates  at  uiglit 

But,  alas,  what  holy  angel 
Brings  tbe  slave  this  glad  evangel 
And  what  earthquake**  arm  of  migbt, 
fiuak*  i^  pciaoB  gates  at  aigkk 


k  STOfe?  Of  BEBEL  IdLITASY  PRISONS, 

Said  I :  "  Now,  isn't  that  fine,  Berkstresser  ? " 
He  was  a  Democrat,  of  fearfully  pro-slavery  ideas,  and  ha 
replied,  sententionsly : 

"O,  ttie  poetry's  tolerable,  but  the  sentiment's  damnabla." 


CilAFTEK  XVHL 

SCHEMES     AND     PLANS     TO      ESCAPE SCALING     THE      STOCKADE  — 

ESTABLISHING    THE    DEAD    LINE THE    FIRST    MAN  KILLED. 

The  official  designation  of  our  prison  was  "  Camp  Sump- 
ter,"  but  this  was  scarcely  known  outside  of  the  Ilebel  documents, 
reports  and  orders.  It  was  the  same  way  with  the 
prison  five  miles  from  Millen,  to  which  we  were  afterward 
transferred.  The  Kebels  styled  it  officially  "  Camp  Lawton," 
but  we  called  it  always  "  Millen." 

Having  our  -huts  finished,  the  next  solicitude  was  about 
escape,  and  this  was  the  burden  of  our  thoughts,  day  and 
night.  We  held  conferences,  at  which  every  man  was  required 
to  contribute  all  the  geographical  knowledge  of  that  section  of 
Georgia  that  he  might  have  left  over  from  his  schoolboy  days,  and 
also  that  gained  by  persistent  questioning  of  such  guards  and 
Dther  Rebels  as  he  had  come  in  contact  with.  When  first 
landed  in  the  prison  we  were  as  ignorant  of  our  whereabouts 
as  if  we  had  been  dropped  into  the  center  of  Africa.  But  one 
of  the  prisoners  was  found  to  have  a  fragment  of  a  school  atlas, 
in  which  was  an  outline  map  of  Georgia,  that  had  Macon, 
Atlanta,  Milledgeville,  and  Savannah  laid  down  upon  it.  As 
we  knew  we  had  come  southward  from  Macon,  we  felt  pretty 
certain  we  were  in  the  southwestern  corner  of  the  State, 
Conversations  with  guards  and  others  gave  us  the  information 
that  the  Chattahooche  flowed  some  two  score  of  miles  to  the 
westward,  and  that  the  Flint  lay  a  little  nearer  on  the  east. 
Our  map  showed  that  these  two  united  and  flowed  together 
into  Appalachicola  Bay,  where,  some  of  us  remembered,  a 
newspaper  item  had  said  that  we  had  gunboats  stationed.  The 


A  STOST  OF  BEBEL  MILITAET 


139 


creek  that  ran  through  the  stockade  flowed  to  the  east,  and  we 
reasoned  that  if  we  followed  its  course  we  would  be  led  to  the 
Flint,  down  which  we  could  float  on  a  log  or  raft  to  the  Appa- 
lachicola.  This  was  the  favorite  scheme  of  the  party  with 
which  I  sided.  t  Another  party  believed  the  most  feasible  plan 


SCALING    THE  •  STOCKADE. 

was  to  go  northward,  and  endeavor  to  gain  the  mountains,  and 
thence  get  into  East  Tennessee. 

But  the  main  thing  was  to  get •  away  from  the  stockade; 
this,  as  the  French  say  of  all  first  steps,  was  what  would  cos£ 

Our  first  attempt  was  made  about  a  week  after  our  arrival.- 
We  found  two  logs  on  the  east  side  that  were  a  couple  of  feet 
shorter  than  the  rest,  and  it  seemed  as  if  they  could  be  successfully 
scaled.  About  fifty  of  us  resolved  to  make  the  attempt.  We 
made  a  rope  twenty-five  or  thirty  feet  long,  and  strong  enough 


AWDISSONYILLE. 

to  bear  a  man,  out  of  strings  and  strips  of  cloth.  A  stont  stick 
was  fastened  to  the  end,  so  that  it  would  catch  on  the  logs  on 
either  side  of  the  gap.  On  a  night  dark  enough  to  favor  our 
scheme,  we  gathered  together,  drew  cuts  to  determine  each  boy's 
place  in  the  line,  fell  in  single  rank,  according  to  this  arrange 
ment,  and  marched  to  the  place.  The  line  was  thrown  skillfully, 
the  stick  caught  fairly  in  the  notch,  and  the  boy  who  had  drawn 
number  one  climbed  up  amid  a  suspense  so  keen  that  I  could 
hear  my  heart  beating.  It  seemed  ages  before  he  reached  the 
top,  and  that  the  noise  he  made  must  certainly  attract  "the 
attention  of  the  guard.  It  did  not.  We  saw  our  comrade's 
figure  outlined  against  the  sky  as  he  slid  over  the  top,  and  then 
heard  the  dull  thump  as  he  sprang  to  the  ground  on  the  other 
fide.  "  Number  two,"  was  whispered  by  our  leader,  and  he 
performed  the  feat  as  successfully  as  his  predecessor.  "  Number 
three,"  and  he  followed  noiselessly  and.  quickly.  Thus  it  went 
on,  until,  just  as  we  heard  number  fifteen  drop,  we  also  heard  a 
Kebel  voice  say  in  a  vicious  undertone : 

"  Halt !  halt,  there,  d n  you  ! " 

This  was  enough.  The  game  was  up ;  we  were  discovered, 
and  the  remaining  thirty-five  of  us  left  that  locality  with  all 
the  speed  in  our  heels,  getting  away  just  in  time  to  escape  a 
volley  which  a  squad  of  guards,  posted  in  the  lookouts,  poured 
upon  the  spot  where  we  had  been  standing. 
*  The  next  morning  the  fifteen  who  had  got  over  the  Stock  ado 
were  brc^ht  in,  each  chained  to  a  sixty-four  pound  ball- 
Their  story  was  that  one  of  the  ISPYaarkers,  who  had  become 
cognizant  of  our  scheme,  had  sought  to  obtain  favor  in  the 
Kebel  eyes  by  betraying  us.  The  Eebels  stationed  a  squad  at 
the  crossing  place,  and  as  each  "man  dropped  down  from  tho 
Stockade  he  was  caught  by  the  shoulder,  the  muzzle  of  a  revolver 
thrust  into  his  face,  and  an  order  to  surrender  whispered  into 
his  ear.  It  was  expected  that  the  guards  in  the  sentry-boxes 
would  do  such  execution  among  those  of  us  still  inside  as  would 
prove  a  warning  to  other  would-be  escapes.  They  were  defeated 
in  this  benevolent  intention  by  the  readiness  with  which  we 
divined  the  meaning  of  that  incautiously  loud  halt,  and  our 
alacrity  in  leaving  the  unhealthy  locality. 


A  STORY  OF  REBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS.  Ill 

The  traitorous  K'Yaarker  was  rewarded  with  a  detail  intc 
the  commissary  department,  where  he  fed  and  fattened  like  a 
rat  that  had  secured  undisturbed  homestead  rights  in  the  center 
of  a  cheese.  When  the  miserable  remnant  of  us  were  leaving 
Andersonville  months  afterward,  I  saw  him,  sleek,  rotund,  and 
well-clothed,  lounging  leisurely  in  the  door  of  a  tent.  He 
regarded  us  a  moment  contemptuously,  and  then  went  on  con 
versing  with  a  fellow  N'Yaarker,  in  the  foul  slang  that  none 
but  such  as  he  were  low  enough  to  use. 

I  have  always  imagined  that  the  fellow  returned  home,  at. 
the  close  of  the  war,  and  became  a  prominent  member  of 
Tweed's  gang. 

We  protested  against  the  barbarity  of  compelling  men  to 
wear  irons  for  exercising  their  natural  right  of  attempting  to 
escape,  but  no  attention  was  paid  to  our  protest 

Another  result  of  this  abortive  effort  was  the  establishment 
of  the  notorious  "  Dead  Line."  A  few  days  later  a  gang  of 
negros  came  in  and  drove  a  line  of  stakes  down  at  a  distance  of 
twenty  feet  from  the  stockade.  They  nailed  upon  this  a  strip 
of  stuff  four  inches  wide,  and  then  an  order  was  issued  that  if 
this  was  crossed,  or  even  touched,  the  guards  would  fire  upon 
the  offender  without  warning. 

Our  surveyor  figured  up  this  new  contraction  of  our  space, 
and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Dead  Line  and  the  Swamp 
took  np  about  three  acres,  and  we  were  left  now  only  thirteen 
acres.  This  was  not  of  much  consequence  then,  however,  as  we 
still  had  plenty  of  room. 

The  first  man  was  killed  the  morning  after  the  Dead-Line  was 
put  up.  The  victim  was  a  German,  wearing  the  white  crescer  t 
of  the  Second  Division  of  the  Eleventh  Corps,  whom  we  had 
nicknamed  "  Sigel."  Hardship  and  exposure  had  crazed  him, 
and  brought  on  a  severe  attack  of  St.  Yitus's  dance.  As  he 
went  hobbling  around  with  a  vacuous  grin  upon  his  face,  he 
spied  an  old  piece  of  cloth  lying  on  the  ground  inside  the  Dead 
Line.  He  stooped  down  and  reached  under  for  it.  At  that 
instant  the  guard  fired.  The  charge  of  ball-and-buck  entered 
the  poor  old  fellow's  shoulder  and  tore  through  his  body.  He 
fell  dead,  still  clutching  the  dirty  rag  that  had  cost  him  his 
lift. 


CHAPTEH  XIX. 


CATT.    HENRI    WIRZ  -  SOME   DESCRIPTION     OF    A    SHALL-TJTN-nTrn   PTTl- 
60NAGE,     WHO     GAINED     GREAT     NOTORIETY  -  FIRST     E±PEKLKttUC 
f         WITH    HIS    DISCIPLINARY    METHOD. 

The  emptying  of  the  prisons  at  Danville  and  Richmond  into 
AndersonviHe  went  on  slowly  during  the  month  of  March. 
They  came  in  by  train  loads  of  from  five  .hundred  to  eight 
hundred,  at  intervals  of  two  or  three  days.  By  the  end  of  the 
month  there  were  about  five  thousand  in  the  stockade.  There 
was  a  fair  amount  of  space  for  this  number,  and  as  yet  we 
suffered  no  inconvenience  from  our  crowding,  though  m6st 
persons  would  fancy  that  thirteen  acres  of  ground  was  a  rather 
limited  area  for  five  thousand  men  to  live,  move  and  have  their 
being  upon.  Yet  a  few  weeks  later  we  were  to  see  seven  times 
that  many  packed  into  that  space. 

One  morning  a  new  Rebel  officer  came  in  to  superintend 
•  calling  the  roll.  He  was  an  undersized,  fidgety  man,  with  an 
insignificant  face,  and  a  mouth  that  -  protruded  like  a  rabbit's. 
His  bright  little  eyes,  like  those  of  a  squirrel  or  a  rat,  assisted 
in  giving  his  countenance  -  a  look  of  kinship  to  the  family  of 
rodent  animals  —  a  genus  which  lives  by  stealth  and  cunning, 
subsisting  on  that  which  it  can  steal  away  from  stronger  and 
braver  creatures.  He  was  dressed  in  a  pair  of  gray  trousers, 
with  the  other  part  of  his  body  covered  with  a  calico  garment, 
like  that  which  small  boys  used  to  wear,  called  "  waists/'  This 
was  fastened  to  the  pantaloons  by  buttons,  precisely  as  was  the 
custom  with  the  garments  of  boys  struggling  with  the  ortho 
graphy  of  words  in  two  syllables.  Upon  his  head  was  perched 
ft  little  gray  cap.  Slicking  in  his  belt,  und  fastened  10,1113 


A  BTOET  OF  EEBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS. 


wrist  by  a,  strap  two  or  three  feet  long,  was  one  of  those  for 
midable  looking,  but  harmless  English  revolvers,  that  have  ten 
barrels  around  the  edge  of  the  cylinder,  and  fire  a  musket- 
bullet  from  the  center.  The  wearer  of  this  composite  costume, 

and  bearer  of  this  amateur  arsenal, 
stepped  nervously  about  and  sputtered 
volubly  in  very  broken  English.  He 
said  to  Wry-Necked  Smith : 

"  Py  Gott,  you  don't  vatch  dem  dam 
Yankees  glose  enough  !  Dey  are  schlip- 
pin'  rount,  and  peatin'  you  efery  dimes." 
This  was  Captain  Henri  Wirz,  the 
new  commandant  of  the  interior  of  the 
prison.  There  has  been  a  great  deal  of 
misapprehension  of  the  character  of 
Wirz.  He  is  usually  regarded  as  a 
villain  of  large  mental  caliber,  and 
with  a  genius  for  cruelty.  He  was 
nothing  of  the  kind.  He  was  simply 
contemptible,  from  whatever  point  of 
view  he  was  studied.  Gnat-brained, 
cowardly,  and  feeble  natured,  he  had 
not  a  quality  that  commanded  respect 
from  any  one  who  knew  him.  Hi* 
cruelty  did  not  seem  designed  so 
much  as  the  ebullitions  of  a  peevish, 
snarling  little  temper,  united  to  a  mind  incapable  of  conceiving 
the  results  of  his  acts,  or  understanding  the  pain  he  was 
inflicting. 

I  never  heard  anything  of  his  profession  or  vocation  before 
entering1  the  armv.     I  always  believed,  however,  that  he  had 

O  */  •. 

been  a  cheap  clerk  in  a  small  dry -goods  store,  a  third  or  fourth 
rate  book-keeper,  or  something  similar.  Imagine,  if  you  please, 
one  such,  who  never  had  brains  or  self-command  sufficient  to 
control  himself,  placed  in  command  of  thirty-five  thousand 
men.  Being  a  fool  he  could  not  help  being  an  infliction  to 
them,  even  with  the  best  of  intentions,  and  Wirz  was  not 
troubled  with  good  intentions. 

I  mention  the  probability  of  his  having  been  a  dry-goodj 


fltt  AJTDEfiSOKTILLX. 

clerk  or  book-keeper,  not  with  any  disrespect  to  two  honorable 
vocations,  but  because  Wirz  had  had  some  training  as  an 
accountant,  and  this  was  what  gave  him  the  place  over  us. 
Kebels,  as  a  rule,  are  astonishingly  ignorant  of  arithmetic  and 
Accounting,  generally.  They  are  good  shots,  fine  horsemen, 
ready  speakers  and  ardent  politicians,  but,  like  all  non-commer 
cial  people,  they  flounder  hopelessly  in  what  people  of  this 
section  would  consider  simple  mathematical  processes.  One  of 
our  constant  amusements  was  in  befogging  and  "  beating  "  those 
charged  with  calling  rolls  and  issuing  rations.  It  was  not  at 
all  difficult  at  times  to  make  a  hundred  men  count  as  a  hundred 
and  ten,  and  so  on. 

Wirz  could  count  beyond  one  hundred,  and  this  determined 
nis  selection  for  the  place.  His  first  move  was  a  stupid  change. 
"We  had  been  grouped  in  the  natural  way  into  hundreds  and 
thousands.  He  re-arranged  the  men  in  "  squads  "  of  ninety,  and 
three  of  these  —  two  hundred  and  seventy  men — into  a  "  de 
tachment."  The  detachments  were  numbered  in  order  from 
the  North  Gate,  and  the  squads  were  numbered  "one,  two, 
three."  On  the  rolls  this  was  stated  after  the  man's  name. 
For  instance,  a  chum  of  mine,  and  in  the  same  squad  with  me, 
was  Charles  L.  Soule,  of  the  Third  Michigan  Infantry.  His 
name  appeared  on  the  rolls : 

"  Chas.  L.  Sonle,  prlr.  Co.  E,  8d  Mich.  Inf.,  1-S." 

That  is,  he  belonged  to  the  Second  Squad  of  the  First  De 
tachment. 

Where  Wirz  got  his  preposterous  idea  of  organization  from 
has  always  been  a  mystery  to  me.  It  was  awkward  in  every 
way  —  in  drawing  rations,  counting,  dividing  into  messes,  etc. 

Wirz  was  not  long  in  giving  us  a  taste  of  his  quality.  The 
next  morning  after  his  first  appearance  he  came  in  when  roll- 
call  was  sounded,  and  ordered  all  the  squads  and  detachments 
U>  form,  and  remain  standing  in  ranks  until  all  were  counted. 
Any  saldier  will  say  that  there  is  no  duty  more  annoying  and 
difficult  than  standing  still  in  ranks  for  any  considerable  length 
of  time,  especially  when  there  is  nothing  to  do  or  to  engage 
the  attention.  It  took  Wirz  between  two  and  three  hours  to 
count  the  whole  camp,  and  by  that  time  we  of  the  first  detach- 


A  STOBT  OF  BEBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS. 

ments  were  almost  all  out  of  ranks.  Thereupon  TVirz  an 
nounced  that  no  rations  would  be  issued  to  the  camp  that  day. 
The  orders  to  stand  in  ranks  were  repeated  the  next  morning, 
with  a  warning  that  a  failure  to  obey  would  be  punished  as 
that  of  the  previous  day  had  been.  Though  we  were  so  hungry, 
that,  to  use  the  words  of  a  Thirty-Fifth  Pennsylvanian  standing 
next  to  me  —  his  "  big  intevStines  were  eating  his  little  ones  up," 
it  was  impossible  to  keep  the  rank  formation  during  the  long 
hours.  One  man  after  another  straggled  away,  and  again  we 
lost  our  rations.  That  afternoon  we  became  desperate.  Plots 
were  considered  for  a  daring  assault  to  force  the  gates  or  scale  the 
Btockade.  The  men  were  crazy  enough  to  attempt  anything  rather 
than  sit  down  and  patiently  starve.  Many  offered  themselves  as 
leaders  in  any  attempt  that  it  might  be  thought  best  to  make. 
The  hopelessness  of  any  such  venture  was  apparent,  even  to 
famished  men,  and  the  propositions  went  no  farther  than  in 
flammatory  talk. 

The  third  morning  the  orders  were  again  repeated.  This 
time  we  succeeded  in  remaining  in  ranks  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  satisfy  TVirz,  and  we  were  given  our  rations  for  that  day, 
but  those  of  the  other  days  were  permanently  withheld. 

That  afternoon  Wirz  ventured   into  camp  alone.     lie  was 
assailed  with  a  storm  of  curses  and  execrations,  and  a  shower 
of  clubs.     He  polled  out  his  revolver,  as  if  to  fire  upon  his 
assailants.     A  yell  was  raised  to  take  his  pistol  away  from  him 
and  a  crowd  rushed  forward  to  do  this.     Without  waiting  to 
fire  a  shot,  he  turned  and  ran  to  the  gate  for  dear  life.     He  did 
not  come  in  again  for  a  long  vvkile,  and  n^yer  afterward  without 
a  retinue  of  guards. 
10 


CHAPTER  XZ. 

PBIZE-P1GHT    AMONG   THE    N'YAARKER9 —  A    GREAT    MA1TT    FORMAL?* 

TIES,  AND    LITTLE   BLOOD    SPILT A  FUTILE  ATTEMPT  TO    EEOOVEB 

A    WATCH DEFEAT    OP   THE    LAW    AOT)    OEDEE    PAETT. 

One  of  the  train-loads  from  Kichmond  was  almost  wholly 
made  up  of  our  old  acquaintances  —  the  N'Yaarkers.  The 
number  of  these  had  swelled  ts  four  hundred  or  five  hundred 
—  all  leagued  together  in  the  fellowship  of  crime. 

"We  did  not  manifest  any  keen  desire  for  intimate  social  rela 
tions  with  them,  and  they  did  not  seem  to  hunger  for  our 
society,  so  they  moved  across  the  creek  to  the  unoccupied  South 
Side,  and  established  their  camp  there,  at  a  considerable  dis 
tance  from  us. 

One  afternoon  a  number  of  us  went  across  to  their  camp,  to 
witness  a  fight  according  to  the  rules  of  the  Prize  Ring,  which 
was  to  come  off  between  two  professional  pugilists.  These 
were  a  couple  of  bounty- jumpers  who  had  some  little  reputa 
tion  in  New  York  sporting  circles,  under  the  names  of  the 
"  Staleybridge  Chicken  "  and  the  "  Haarlem  Infant." 

On  the  way  from  Richmond  a  cast-iron  skillet,  or  spider,  had 
been  stolen  by  the  crowd  from  the  Rebels.  It  was  a  small 
affair,  holding  a  half  gallon,  and  worth  to-day  about  fifty 
cents.  In  Andersonville  its  worth  was  literally  above  rubies. 
Two  men  belonging  to  different  messes  each  claimed  the 
ownership  of  the  utensil,  on  the  ground  of  being  most  active 
in  securing  it.  Their  claims  were  strenuously  supported  by 
their  respective  messes,  at  the  hnads  of  which  were  the  afore 
said  Infant  and  Chicken.  A  great  deal  of  strong  talk,  and 
several  indecisive  knock-do  \vns  resulted  in  ail  agreement  to 


A  flTOBY  OF  BKBEL  MILITABT  PEIBONS. 

settle  the  matter  by  wager  of  battle  between  the  Infant  and 
Chicken. 

'When  we  arrived  a  twenty-four  foot  ring  had  been  prepared 
by  drawing  a  deep  mark  in  the  sand.  In  diagonally  opposite 
corners  of  these  the  seconds  were  kneeling  on  one  knee  and 
supporting  their  principals  on  the  other.  By  their  sides  they 
had  little  vessels  of  water,  and  bundles  of  rag's  to  answer  fo? 


THE   PRIZE-FIGHT   FOR   THE    SKILLET, 

sponges.  Another  corner  was  occupied-  by  the  umpire,  a  foul- 
mouthed,  loud-tongued  Tombs  shyster,  named  Pete  Bradley. 
A  long-bodied,  short-legged  hoodlum,  nick-named  "  Heenan," 
armed  with  a  club,  acted  as  ring  keeper,  and  "  belted "  back, 
remorselessly,  any  of  the  spectators  who  crowded  over  the 
line.  Did  he  see  a  foot  obtruding  itself  so  much  as  an  inch 
over  the  mark  in  the  sand  —  and  the  pressure  from  the  crowd 
behind  was  so  great  that  it  was  difficult  for  the  front  fellows  to 
keep  off  the  line  —  his  heavy  club  and  a  blasting  curse  would 
fall  upon  the  offender  simultaneously. 

Every  effort  was  made  to  have  all  things  conform  as  nearh 


ANDEESONVTLLE. 

as  possible  to  the  recognized  practices  of  the  "  London  Prize 
King." 

At  Bradley's  call  of  "  Time !  "  the  principals  \vouM  rise  from 
their  seconds'  knees,  advance  briskly  to  the  scratch  across  the 
center  of  the  ring,  and  spar  away  sharply  for  a  little  time, 
until  one  got  in  a  blow  that  sent  the  other  to  the  ground, 
where  he  would  lie  until  his  second  picked  him  up,  carried  him 
back,  washed  his  face  off,  and  gave  him  a  drink.  He  then 
rested  until  the  next  call  of  time. 

This  sort  of  performance  went  on  for  an  hour  or  more,  with 
the  knock-downs  and  other  casual i  ties  pretty  evenly  divided 
between  the  two.  Then  it  became  apparent  that  the  Infant 
was  getting  more  than  he  had  storage  room  for.  His  interest 
in  the  skillet  was  evidently  abating,  the  leering  grin  he  wore 
upon  his  face  during  the  early  part  of  the  engagement  had  dis 
appeared  long  ago,  as  the  successive  "  hot  ones "  which  the 
Chicken  had  succeeded  in  planting  upon  his  mouth,  put  it  out 
of  his  power  to  "ksmile  and  smile,'5  "e'en  though  he  might 
still  be  a  villain."  He  began  coming  up  to  the  scratch  as  slug 
gishly  as  a  hired  man  starting  out  for  his  .day's  work,  and 
finally  he  did  not  come  up  at  all.  A  bunch  of  blood  soaked 
rags  was  tossed  into  the  air  from  his  corner,  and  Bradley 
declared  the  Chicken  to  be  the  victor,  amid  enthusiastic  cheers 
from  the  crowd. 

We  voted  the  thing  rather  tame.  In  the  whole  hour  and 
a-half  Uiere  was  not  so  much  savage  fighting,  not  so  much 
damage  done,  as  a  couple  of  earnest,  but  unscientific  men,  who 
have  no  time  to  waste,  will  frequently  crowd  into  an  im 
promptu  affair  not  exceeding  five  minutes  in  duration. 

Our  next  visit  to  the  N'Yaarkers  was  on  a  different  errand. 
The  moment  they  arrived  in  camp  we  began  to  be  annoyed  by 
their  depredations.  Blankets  —  the  sole  protection  of  men  — 
would  be  snatched  off  as  they  slept  at  night.  Articles  of 
clothing  and  cooking  utensils  would  go  the  same  way,  and 
occasionally  a  man  would  be  robbed  in  open  daylight.  All 
these,  it  was  believed,  with  good  reason,  were  the  work  of  the 
N'Yaarkers,  and  the  stolen  things  were  conveyed  to  their 
camp.  Occasionally  depredators  would  be  caught  and  beaten, 
but  they  would  give  a  signal  which  would  bring  to  their  assist- 


A  BTOET  OF  BEBEL  MIUTJLRY  PRISONS.  14:9 

anoe  the  whole  body  of  N'Yaarkers,  and  turn  the  tables  on 
their  assailants. 

We  had  in  our  squad  a  little  watchmaker  named  Dan  Mar 
tin,  of  the  Eighth  Xew  York  Infantry.  Other  boys  let  him 
take  their  watches  to  tinker  up,  so  as  to  make  a  show  of  run 
ning,  and  be  available  for  trading  to  the  guards. 

One  day  Martin  was  at  the  creek,  when  a  N'Yaarker  asked 
him  to  let  him  look  at  a  watch.  Martin  incautiously  did  so, 
when  the  N'Yaarker  snatched  it  and  sped  away  to  the  camp 
of  his  crowd.  Martin  ran  back  to  us  and  told  his  story. 
This  was  the  last  feather  which  was  to  break  the  camel's  back 
of  our  patience.  Peter  Bates,  of  the  Third  Michigan,  the 
Sergeant  of  our  squad,  had  considerable  confidence  in  his  mus 
cular  ability.  He  flamed  up  into  mighty  wrath,  and  swore  a 
sulphurous  oath  that  we  would  get  that  watch  back,  whereupon 
about  two  hundred  of  us  avowed  our  willingness  to  help  re 
claim  it. 

Each  of  us  providing  ourselves  with  a  club,  we  started  on 
our  errand.  The  rest  of  the  camp  —  about  four  thousand  — 
gathered  on  the  hillside  to  watch  us.  "We  thought  they  might 
have  sent  us  some  assistance,  as  it  was  about  as  much  their 
fight  as  ours,  but  they  did  not,  and  we  were  too  proud  to  ask 
it.  The  crossing  of  the  swamp  was  quite  difficult.  Only  one 
could  go  over  at  a  time,  and  he  very  slowly.  Ths  N'Yaarkers 
understood  that  trouble  was  pending,  and  they  began  mustering 
to  receive  us.  From  the  way  they  turned  out  it  was  evident 
that  we  should  have  come  over  with  three  hundred  instead  of 
two  hundred,  but  it  was  too  late  then  to  alter  the  program. 
As  we  came  up  a  stalwart  Irishman  stepped  out  and  asked  us 
what  we  wanted. 

Pates  replied :  "  We  have  come  over  to  get  a  watch  that  one 

of  your  fellows  took  from  one  of  ours,  and  by* we're  going 

to  have  it." 

The  Irishman's  reply  was  equally  explicit  though  not  strictly 

logical  in  construction.  Said  he  :  "  We  havn't  got  your • 

watch,  and  be ye  can't  have  it." 

This  joined  the  issue  .just  as  faiiiv  as  if  it  had  been  done  by 
all  the  documentary  for-muhe  that  posseu  between  Turkey  and 
Russia  prior  to  the  late  war.  Bates  and  the  Irishman 


150  AHDKE80NTILLB. 

changed  very  derogatory  opinions  of  each  other,  and  began 
striking  with  their  clubs.  The  rest  of  us  took  this  as  our  cue, 
and  each,  selecting  as  sma.11  a  NJ  Yaarker  as  we  could  readily 
find,  sailed  in. 

There  is  a  very  expressive  bit  of  slang  coming  into  general 
ose  in  the  West,  which  speaks  of  a  man  "  biting  off  more  than 
he  can  chew." 

That  is  what  we  had  done.  We  had  taken  a  contract  that 
we  should  have  divided,  .and  sub-let  the  bigger  half.  Two 
minutes  after  the  engagement  became  general  there  was  no 
doubt  that  we  would  have  been  much  better  off  if  we  had 
staid  on  our  own  side  of  the  creek.  The  watch  was  a  very 
poor  one,  anyhow.  We  thought  we  would  just  say  good  day 
to  our  N'Yaark  friends,  and  return  home  hastily.  But  they 
declined  to  be  left  so  precipitately.  They  wanted  to  stay  with 
us  awhile.  It  was  lots  of  fun  for  them,  and  for  the  four 
thousand  yelling  spectators  on  the  opposite  hill,  who  were 
greatly  enjoying  our  discomfiture.  There  was  hardly  enough 
of  the  amusement  to  go  clear  around,  however,  and  it  all  fell 
short  just  before  it  reached  us.  We  earnestly  wished  that 
some  of  the  boys  would  come  over  and  help  us  let  go  of  the 
N'Yaarkers,  but  they  were  enjoying  the  thing  too  much  to 
interfere. 

We  were  driven  down  the  hill,  pell-mell,  with  the  N"'  Yaarkers 
pursuing  hotly  with  yell  and  blow.  At  the  swamp  we  tried  to 
make  a  stand  to  secure  our  passage  across,  but  it  was  only  par 
tially  successful.  Yery  few  got  back  without  some  severe 
hurts,  and  many  received  blows  that  greatly  hastened  their 
deaths. 

After  this  the  N' Yaarkers  became  bolder  in  their  robberies, 
and  more  arrogant  in  their  demeanor  than  ever,  and  we  had 
the  poor  revenge  upon  those  who  would  not  assist  us,  of  seeing 
A  reign  of  terror  inaugurated  over  the  whole  camp. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

DmrNTSHTNG    RATIONS  —  A   DEADLY     COLD     RAIN —  HOVERING    OVEB 

PITCH     TINE     FERES INCREASE     OF     MORTALITY A    THEORY   QT 

HEALTH. 

The  rations  diminished  perceptibly  day  by  day.  When  we 
first  entered  we  each  received  something  over  a  quart  of  toler 
ably  good  meal,  a  sweet  potato,  a  piece  of  meat  about  the  size 
of  one's  two  fingers,  and  occasionally  a  spoonful  of  salt.  First 
the  salt  disappeared.  Then  the  sweet  potato  took  unto  itself 
wings  and  flew  away,  never  to  return.  An  attempt  was  osten 
sibly  made  to  issue  us  cow-peas  instead,  and  the  first  issue  was 
only  a  quart  to  a  detachment  of  two  hundred  and  seventy  nxen. 
This  was  two-thirds  of  a  pint  to  each  squad  of  ninety,  and  made 
but  a  few  spoonfuls  for  each  of  the  four  messes  in  the  squad. 
When  it  came  to  dividing  among  the  men,  the  beans  had  to  be 
counted.  Xobody  received  enough  to  pay  for  cooking,  and  we 
were  at  a  loss  what  to  do  until  somebody  suggested  that  we 
play  poker  for  them.  This  met  general  acceptance,  and  after 
that,  as  long  as  beans  were  drawn,  a  large  portion  of  the  day 
was  spent  in  absorbing  games  of  "  bluff  "  and  "  draw,"  at  a 
bean  "ante,"  and  no  u  limit." 

After  a  number  of  hours''  diligent  playing,  some  lucky  or 
skillful  player  would  be  in  possession  of  all  the  beans  in  a  mess, 
a  squad,  and  sometimes  a  detachment,  and  have  enough  for  a 
good  meal. 

Next  the  meal  began  to  diminish  in  quantity  and  deteriorate 
in  quality.  It  became  so  exceedingly  coarse  that  the  common 
remark  was  that  the  next  step  would  be  to  bring  us  the  corn  in 
the  shock,  and  feed  it  to  us  like  stock.  Then  meat  followed 


152  AHDEBSONVTLLE. 

suit  with  the  rest.  The  rations  decreased  in  size,  and  the  num 
ber  of  days  that  we  did  not  get  any,  kept  constantly  increasing 
in  proportion  to  the  days  that  we  did,  until  eventually  the  meat 
bade  us  a  final  adieu,  and  joined  the  sweet  potato  in  that 
undiscovered  country  from  whose  bourne  no  ration  ever 
returned. 

The  fuel  and  building  material  in  the  stockade  were  speedily 
exhausted.  The  later  comers  had  nothing  whatever  to  build 
shelter  with. 

But,  after  the  Spring  rains  had  fairly  set  in,  it  seemed  that 
we  had  not  tasted  misery  until  then.  About  the  middle  of 
March  the  windows  of  heaven  opened,  and  it  began  a  rain  like 
that  of  the  time  of  Noah.  It  was  tropical  in  quantity  and  persis 
tency,  and  arctic  in  temperature.  For  dreary  hours  that 
lengthened  into  weary  days  and  nights,  and  these  again  into 
never-ending  weeks,  the  driving,  drenching  flood  poured  down 
upon  the  sodden  earth,  searching  the  very  marrow  of  the  five 
thousand  hapless  men  against  whose  chilled  frames  it  beat  with 
pitiless  monotony,  and  soaked  the  sand  bank  upon  which  we  lay 
until  it  was  like  a  sponge  filled  with  ice- water.  It  seems  to  me 
now  that  it  must  have  been  two  or  three  weeks  that  the  sun 
was  wholly  hidden  behind  the  dripping  clouds,  not  shining  out 
once  in  all  that  time.  The  intervals  when  it  did  not  rain  were 
rare  and  short.  An  hour's  respite  would  be  followed  by  a  day 
of  steady,  regular  pelting  of  the  great  rain  drops. 

I  find  that  the  report  of  the  Smithsonian  Institute  gives  the 
average  annual  rainfall  in  the  section  around  Andersonville,  at 
fifty-six  inches  —  nearly  five  feet  —  while  that  of  foggy  England 
is  only  thirty-two.  Our  experience  would  lead  me  to  think 
that  we  gol  the  five  feet  all  at  once. 

"We  first  comers,  who  had  huts,  were  measurably  better  off 
than  the  later  arrivals.  It  was  much  drier  in  our  leaf- 
thatched  tents,  and  we  were  spared  much  of  the  annoyance 
that  comes  from  the  steady  dash  of  rain  against  the  body  for 
hours. 

The  condition  of  those  who  had  no  tents  was  truly  pitiable. 
They  sat  or  lay  on  the  hill-side  the  live-long  day  and  night, 
and  took  the  washing  flow  with  sucii  gloomy  composure  as  they 
could  muster. 


A  WOKT  Of  REBEL  MTLTTASY  TFKTSGVB. 

All  soldiers  will  agree  with  me  that  there  is  no  campaigning 
hardship  comparable  to  a  cold  rain.  One  can  brace  up  against 
the  extremes  of  heat  and  cold,  and  mitigate  their  inclemency 
in  various  ways.  But  there  is  no  escaping  a  long-continued, 
chilling  rain.  It  seems  to  penetrate  to  the  heart,  and  leach 
away  the  very  vital  force. 

The  only  relief  attainable  was  found  in  huddling  over  little 
fires  kept  alive  by  smg.11  groups  with  their  slender  stocks  of 
wood.  As  this  wood  was  all  pitch-pine,  that  burned  with  a 
very  sooty  flame,  the  effect  upon  the  appearance  of  the  hover- 
ers  was  startling.  Face,  neck  and  hands  became  covered  with 
mixture  of  lampblack  and  turpentine,  forming  a  coating  as 
thick  as  heavy  brown  paper,  and  absolutely  irremovable  by 
water  alone.  The  hair  also  became  of  midnight  blackness,  and 
gummed  up  into  elf-locks  of  fantastic  shape  and  effect.  Any 
one  of  us  could  have  gone  on  the  negro  minstrel  stage,  without 
changing  a  hair,  and  put  to  blush  the  most  elaborate  make-up 
of  the  grotesque  burnt-cork  artists. 

No  wood  was  issued  to  us.  The  only  way  of  getting  it  was 
to  stand  around  the  gate  for  hours  until  a  guard  off  duty  could 
be  coaxed  or  hired  to  accompany  a  small  party  to  the  woods, 
to  bring  back  a  load  of  such  knots  and  limbs  as  could  be  picked 
up.  Our  chief  persuaders  to  the  guards  to  do  us  this  favor 
were  rings,  pencils,  knives,  combs,  and  such  trifles  as  we  might 
have  in  our  pockets,  and,  more  especially,  the  brass  buttons  on 
our  uniforms.  Rebel  soldiers,  like  Indians,  negros  and  other 
imperfectly  civilized  people,  were  passionately  fond  of  bright 
and  gaudy  things.  A  handful  of  brass  buttons  would  catch 
every  one  of  them  as  swiftly  and  as  surely  as  a  piece  of  red 
flannel  will  a  gudgeon.  Our  regular  fee  for  an  escort  for  three 
of  us  to  the  woods  was  six  over-coat  or  dresscoat  buttors,  or  ten 
or  twelve  jacket  buttons.  All  in  the  mess  contributed  to  this 
fund,  and  the  fuel  obtained  vvas  carefully  guarded  and  hus 
banded. 

This  manner  of  conducting  the  wood  business  is  a  fair  sam 
ple  of  the  management,  or  rather  the  lack  of  it,  of  every  other 
detail  of  prison  administration.  All  the  hardships  we  suffered 
from  lack  of  fuel  and  shelter  could  have  been  prevented  with 
out  the  slightest  expense  or  trouble  to  the  Codederacy.  Two 

3    A 


A1TDEBSONTILLB. 

hundred  men  allowed  to  go  out  on  parole,  and  supplied  with 
axes,  would  have  brought  iri  from  the  adjacent  woods,  in  a 
week's  time,  enough  material  to  make  everybody  comfortable 
tents,  and  to  supply  all  the  fuel  needed. 

The  mortality  caused  by  the  storm  was,  of  course,  very 
great.  The  official  report  says  the  total  number  in  the  prison 
in  March  was  four  thousand  six  hundred  and  three,  of  whom 
two  hundred  and  eighty-three  died. 

Among  the  first  to  die  was  the  one  whom  we  expected  to 
live  longest.  He  was  by  much  the  largest  man  in  prison,  and 
was  called,  because  of  this,  "  BIG  JOE."  He  was  a  Sergeant  in 
the  Fifth  Pennsylvania  Cavalry,  and  seemed  the  picture  of 
health.  One  morning  the  news  ran  through  the  prison  that 
"  Big  Joe  is  dead,"  and  a  visit  to  his  squad  showed  his  stiff, 
lifeless  form,  occupying  as  much  ground  as  Goliah's,  after  his 
encounter  with  David. 

His  early  demise  was  an  example  of  a  general  law,  the  work 
ings  of  which  few  in  the  army  failed  to  notice.  It  was  always 
the  large  and  stroDg  who  first  succumbed  to  hardship.  The 
stalwart,  huge-limbed,  toil-inured  men  sank  down  earliest  on 
the  march,  yielded  soonest  to  malarial  influences,  and  fell  first 
under  the  combined  effects  of  home-sickness,  exposure  and  the 
privations  of  army;  life.  The  slender,  withy  boys,  as  supple 
and  weak  as  cats,  had  apparently  the  nine  lives  of  those  ani 
mals.  There  were  few  exceptions  to  this  rule  in  the  army  — 
there  were  none  in  Andersonville.  I  can  recall  few  or  no 
instances  where  a  large,  strong,  "  hearty  "  man  lived  through  a 
few  months  of  imprisonment.  The  survivors  were  invariably 
youths,  at  the  verge  of  manhood, —  slender,  quick,  active, 
medium-statured  fellows,  of  a  cheerful  temperament,  in  whom 
one  would  have  expected  comparatively  little  powers  of  endur- 
ance. 

The  theory  which  I  constructed  for  my  own  private  use  in 
accounting  for  this  phenomenon  I  offer  with  proper  diffidence 
to  others  who  may  be  in  search  of  a  hypothesis  to  explain  facts 
that  they  have  observed.  It  is  this  : 

a.  The  circulation  of  the  blood  maintains  health,  and  conse 
quently  life  by  carrying  away  from  the  various  parts  of  the 
body  the  particles  of  worn-out  and  poisonous  tissue,  and  replao. 


A  STORY  OF  EEBEL  MTLITABT  PEI50N8.  153 

5.  The  man  is  healthiest  in  whom  this  process  goes  on  jiost 
freely  and  continuously. 

c.  Men  of  considerable  muscular  power  are  disposed  to  be 
sluggish ;  the  exertion  of  great  strength  does  not  favor  circula 
tion.     It  rather  retards  it,  and  disturbs  its  equilibrium  by  con 
gesting  the  blood  in  quantities  in  the  sets  of  musdes  called  into 
action. 

d.  In  light,  active  men,  on  the  other  hand,  the  cineulation 
goes  on  perfectly  and  evenly,  because  all  the  parts  are  put  ta 
motion,  and  kept  so  in  such  a  manner  as  to  promote  the  move 
ment  of  the  blood  to  every  extremity.     They  do  not  strain  one 
set  of  muscles  by  long  continued  effort,  as  a  strong  man  does, 
but  call  one  into  play  after  another. 

There  is  no  compulsion  on  the  reader  to  accept  this  specula 
tion  at  any  valuation  whatever.  There  is_not  even  any  charge 
for  it.  I  will  lay  down  lias  simple  axiom : 

No  strong  man  is  a  healthy  man  — 

from  the  athlete  in  the  circus  who  lifts  pieces  of  artillery  and 
catches  cannon  balls,  to  the  exhibition  swell  in  a  country  gym 
nasium.  If  my  theory  is  not  a  sufficient  explanation  of  this, 
there  is  nothing  to  prevent  tlie  reader  from  building  up  one  to 
suit  him  better. 


OHAPTEE 


DIFFEBENCE  BETWEEN  ALABAMIANS  AND  GEORGIANS  —  DKATTT  OT 
"  POLL  PARROTT  "  —  A  GOOD  JOKE  UPOF  THE  GUARD  —  A  BKUTAL 
RASCAL. 

There  were  two  regiments  guarding  us  —  the  Twenty-Sixth 
Alabama  and  the  Fifty-Fifth  Georgia.  Never  were  two  regi 
ments  of  the  same  army  more  different.  The  Alabamians  were 
the  superiors  of  the  Georgians  in  every  way  that  one  set  of  men 
could  be  superior  to  another.  They  were  manly,  soldierly, 
and  honorable,  where  the  Georgians  were  treacherous  and  brutal. 
We  had  nothing  to  complain  of  at  the  hands  of  the  Alabami 
ans  ;  we  suffered  from  the  Georgians  everything  that  raean- 
Bpirited  cruelty  could  devise.  The  Georgians  were  always  on 
the  look-out  for  something  that  they  could  torture  into  such 
apparent  violation  of  orders,  as  would  justify  them  in  shooting 
men  dowvi;  the  Alabamians  never  fired  until  they  were  satisfied 
that  a  deliberate  offense  was  intended.  I  can  recall  of  my  own 
aeeing  ai  least  a  dozen,  instances  where  men  of  the  Fifty-Fifth 
Georgia  killed  prisoners  under  the  pretense  that  they  were 
across  the  Dead  Line,  when  the  victims  were  a  yard  or  more  from 
the  Dead  Line,  and  had  not  the  remotest  idea  of  going  any 
nearer. 

The  only  man  I  ever  knew  to  be  killed  by  one  of  the 
Twenty-Sixth  Alabama  was  named  Hubbard,  from  Chicago, 
Tils.,  and  a  member  of  the  Thirty-Eighth  Illinois.  lie  had 
lost  one  leg,  and  went  hobbling  about  the  camp  on  cruu-1  os, 
chattering  continually  in  a  loud,  discordant  voice,  saying  ail 
manner  of  hateful  and  annoying  things,  wherever  he  saw  an 
This  and  his  beak-like  nose-  gained  for  Him  the 


A  8TOBY  OF  REBEL  IfTT.TTABY  PRISONS.  157 

name  of  "  Poll  Parrot."  His  misfortune  caused  him  to  be 
tolerated  where  another  man  would  have  been  suppressed. 
By-and-by  he  gave  still  greater  cause  for  offense  by  his  obse 
quious  attempts  to  curry  favor  with  Captain  Wirz,  who  took 
him  outside  several  times  for  purposes  that  were  not  well 
explained.  Finally,  some  hours  after  one  of  Poll  Parrot's  vis" 
its  outside,  a  Rebel  officer  came  in  with  a  guard,  and,  pro 
ceeding  with  suspicious  directness  to  a  tent  which  was  the 
mouth  of  a  large  tunnel  that  a  hundred  men  or  more  had  been 
quietly  pushing  forward,  broke  the  tunnel  in,  and  took  the 
occupants  of  the  tent  outside  for  punishment.  The  question 
that  demanded  immediate  solution  then  was — 

"  "Who  is  the  traitor  who  has  informed  the  Rebels  \ " 
Suspicion  pointed  very  strongly  to  "  Poll  Parrot."      By  tho 
next  morning  the  evidence  collected  seemed  to  amount  to  ;t 
certainty,  and  a  crowd  caught  the  Parrot  with  the  intention  of 

f       S 

lynching  him.  He  succeeded  in  breaking  away  from  them  and 
ran  under  the  Dead  Line,  iiear  where  I  was  sitting  in  my  tent. 
At  first  it  looked  as  if  he  had  done  this  to  secure  the  protection 
of  the  guard.  The  latter  —  a  Twenty-Sixth  Alabamian  —  or 
dered  him  out.  Poll  Parrot  rose  up  on  his  one  leg,  put  hia 
back  against  the  Dead  Line,  faced  the  guard,  and  said  in  his 
harsh,  cackling  voice : 

"  No ;  I  won't  go  out.  If  I've  lost  the  confidence  of  my 
comrades  I  want  to  die.J 

Part  of  the  crowd  were  taken  back  by  this  move,  and  felt 
disposed  to  accept  it  as  a  demonstration  of  the  Parrot's  inno 
cence.  The  rest  thought  it  was  a  piece  of  bravado,  because  of 
his  belief  that  the  Rebels  would  not  injure  him  after  he  had 
served  them.  They  renewed  their  yells,  the  guard  again  or 
dered  the  Parrot  out,  but  the  latter,  tearing  open  his  blouse, 
cackled  out : 

"  Xo,  I  won't  go  ;  fire  at  me,  guard.  There's  my  heart ; 
shoot  me  right  there." 

There  was  no  help  for  it.  The  Rebel  leveled  his  gun  and 
fired.  The  charge  struck  the  Parrot's  lower  jaw,  and  carried 
it  completely  away,  leaving  his  tongue  and  the  roof  of  ius 
mouth  exposed.  As  he  was  carried  back  to  die,  he  wagged  his 
tongue  vigorously,  in  attempting  to  speak,  but  it  was  of  no  use. 


153 

The  guard  set /his  gun  down  and  buried  his  face  in  his  hands.' 
•!t  was  the  only  time  that  I  saw  a  sentinel  show  anything  but 
exultation  at  killing  a  Yankee. 

A  ludicrous  contrast  to  this  took  place  a' few  nights  later. 
The  rains  had  ceased,  the  weather  had  become  warmer,  and  our 
-spirits  rising  with  this  increase  in  the  comfort  of  our  surround 
ings,  a  number  of  us  were  sitting  around  "  Nosey " —  a  boy 
Tvith  a  superb  tenor  voice  —  who  was  singing  patriotic  songs, 
We  were  coming  in  strong  on  the  chorus,  in  a  way  that  spoke 
vastly  more  for  our  enthusiasm  for  the  Union  than  our  musical 
knowledge.  "Nosey"  sang  the  "Star  Spangled  Banner," 
«  The  Battfe  Cry  of  Freedom,"  "  Brave  Boys  are  They,"  etc., 
capitally,  and  we  threw  our  whole  lungs  into  the  chorus.  It 
was  quite  dark,  and  while  our  noise  was  going  on  the  guards 
changed,  new  men  coming  on  duty.  Suddenly,  bang !  went 
the  gun  of  the  guard  in  the  box  about  fifty  feet  away  from  us. 
"We  knew  it  was  a  Fifty-Fifth  Georgian,  and  supposed  that, 
imtated  at  our  singing,  he  was  trying  to  kill  some  of  us  for 
spite.  At  the  sound  of  the  gun  we  jumped  up  and  scattered.  As 
no  one  gave  the  usual  agonized  yell  of  a  prisoner  when  shot,  we 
supposed  the  ball  had  not  taken  effect.  We  could  hear  the 
sentinel  ramming  down  another  cartridge,  hear  him  "  return 
rammer,"  and  cock  his  rifle.  Again  the  gun  cracked,  and  again 
there  was  no  sound  of  anybody  being  hit.  Again  we  could 
hear  the  sentry  churning  down  another  cartridge.  The  drums 
began  beating  the  long  roll  in  the  camps,  and  officers  could  be 
heard  turning  the  men  out.  The  thing  was  becoming  exciting, 
and  one  ef  us  sang  out  to  the  guard  : 

"  S-a-y !    What  the are  you  shooting  at,  any  how  ?'* 

"  I'm  a  shootin'  at  that Yank  thar,  by  the  Dead 

Line,  and  by if  you'uns  don't  take  him  in  I'll  blow  the 

whole head  off'n  him." 

"  What  -Yank  ?    Where's  any  Yank  ? " 

"Why,  thar  — right  thar  —  a-standin'  agin  the  Bed  Line." 

"  Why,  you Eebel  fool,  that's  a  chunk  of  wood.    You 

can't  get  aay  furlough  for  shooting  that  1 " 

At  this  there  was  a  general  roar  from  the  rest  of  the  camp, 
which  the  other  guards  took  up,  and  as  the  Reserves  came 
up,  and  learned  the  occasion  of  the  alarm,  they 


A  8TOET  OF  RfiBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS.  159 

gave  the  rascal  who  had  been  so  anxious  to  kill  somebody  a 
torrent  of  abuse  for  having  disturbed  them. 

A  part  of  our  crowd  had  been  out  after  wood  during  the 
day,  and  secured  a  piece  of  a  log  as  large  as  two  of  them  could 
carry,  and  bringing  it  in,  stood  it  up  near  the  Dead  Lino. 
When  the  guard  mounted  to  his  post  he  was  sure  he  saw  a 
temerarious  Yankee  in  front  of  him,  and  hastened  to  slay  him. 

It  was  an  unusual  good  fortune  that  nobody  was  struck.  It 
was  very  rare  that  the  guards  fired  into  the  prison  without  hit 
ting  at  least  one  person.  The  Georgia  Reserves,  who  formed 
our  guards  later  in  the  season,  were  armed  with  an  old  gun 
called  a  Queen  Anne  musket,  altered  to  percussion.  It  carried 
a  bullet  as  big  as  a  large  marble,  and  three  or  four  buckshot. 
When  fired  into  a  group  of  men  it  was  sure  to  bring  several 
down. 

I  was  standing  one  day  in  the  line  at  the  gate,  waiting  for  a 
chance  to  go  out  after  wood.  A  Fifty-Fifth  Georgian  was  the 
gate  guard,  and  he  drew  a  line  in  the  sand  with  his  bayonet 
which  we  should  not  cross.  The  crowd  behind  pushed  one  man 
till  he  put  his  foot  a  few  inches  over  the  line,  to  save  himself 
from  falling ;  the  guard  sank  a  bayonet  through  the  foot  as 
quick  as  a 


CHAPTEE  XXIIL 

A     NEW     LOT     OF     PRISONERS THE     BATTLE     OF    OOLU8TEE  — 

SACRIFICED    TO  A  GENERAL'S    INCOMPETENCT  A  HOODLUM   EE-OT- 

FORCEMENT A   QUEER    CROWD MISTREATMENT    OF  AN    OFFICER 

OF  A  COLORED  REGIMENT  —  KILLING   THE    SERGEANT   OF    A   NEGBO 
BQUAD. 

So  far  only  old  prisoners  —  those  taken  at  Gettysburg, 
Chicamauga  and  Mine -Run  —  had  been  brought  in.  The  armies 
had  been  very  quiet  during  the  Winter,  preparing  for  the  death 
grapple  in  the  Spring.  There  had  been  nothing  done,  save  a 
few  cavalry  raids,  such  as  our  own,  and  AverilTs  attempt  to 
gain  and  break  up  the  Rebel  salt  works  at  Wytheville,  and 
Saltvilla  Consequently  none  but  a  few  cavalry  prisoners  \vero 
added  to  the  number  already  in  the  hands  of  the  Rebels. 

The  first  lot  of  new  ones  came  in  about  the  middle  of  March. 
There  were  about  seven  hundred  of  them,  who  had  been  cap- 
tur'ed  at  the  battle  of  Oolustee,  Fla.,  on  the  20th  of  February. 
About  five  hundred  of  them  were  white,  and  belonged  to  the 
Seventh  Connecticut,  the  Seventh  New  Hampshire,  Forty- 
Seventh,  Forty-Eighth  and  One  Hundred  and  Fifteenth  New 
York,  and  Sherman's  regular  battery.  The  rest  were  colored, 
and  belonged  to  the  Eighth  United  States,  and  Fifty-Fourth 
Massachusetts. 

The  story  they  told  or*  the  battle  was  one  which  had  many 
Bnameful  ^iterations  during  the  war.  It  was  the  story  told 
whenever  Banks,-  Sturgis,  Butler,  or  one  of  a  host  of  similar 
smaller  failures  were  intrusted  with  commands.  It  was  a 
senseless  waste  of  the  lives  of  private  soldiers,  and  the  property 
of  the  United  States  by  pretentious  blunderers,  who,  in  some 


0r  KEBEL  MEunrlBY  PEisoirsi 

inscrutable  manner,  had  attained  to  responsible  commands,  In 
this  instance,  a  bungling  Brigadier  named  Seymore  had 
marched  his  forces  across  the  State  of  Florida,  to  do  he  hardly 
knew  what,  and  in  the  neighborhood  of  an  enemy  of  whose 
numbers,  disposition,  location,  and  intentions  he  was  profoundly 
ignorant.  The  Rebels,  under  General  Finnegan,  waited  till  he 
had  strung  his  command  along  through  swamps  and  cane 
brakes,  scores  of  miles  from  his  supports,  and  then  fell  unex 
pectedly  upon  his  advance.  The  regiment  was  overpowered, 
and  another  regiment  that  hurried  up  to  its  support,  suffered 
the  same  fate.  The  balance  of  the  regiments  were  sent  in  in 
the  same  manner — each  arriving1  on  the  field  lust  after  its  pre- 

O  J  X, 

decessor  had  been  thoroughly  whipped  by  the  concentrated 
force  of  the  Rebels.  The  men  fought  gallantly,  but  the 
stupidity  of  a  Commanding  G-eneral  is  a  tiling  that  the  gods 
themselves  strive  against  in  vain.  TTe  siilTercd  a  humiliating 
defeat,  with  a  loss  of  two  thousand  IIUMI  and  a  line  riiled  bat 
tery,  which  was  brought  to  Anderson viile  and  placed  in  posi 
tion  to  command  the  prison. 

The  major i* ;  of  the  Seventh  Xew  Hampshire  were  an  un 
welcome  add  ;,on  to  our  numbers.  They  were  2v  Yaarkers — 
old  time  colleagues  of  those  already  in  with  us — veteran 
bounty  jumpers,  that  had  been  drawn  to  Xcw  Hampshire  by 
the  size  of  the  bounty  offered  there,  and  had  been  assigned  to 
fill  up  the  wasted  ranks  of  the  veteran  Seventh  regiment. 
They  had  tried  to  desert  as  soon  as  they  received  their  bounty, 
but  the  Government  clung  to  them  literally  with  hooks  of  steel, 
sending  manv  of  them  to  the  regiment  in  irons.  Thus  foiled, 
they  deserted  to  the  Rebels  during  the  retreat  from  the  battle 
field.  They  were  quite  an  accession  to  the  force  of  our 
N'Yaarkers.  and  helped  much  to  establish  the  hoodlum  reign 
which  was  shortly  inaugurated  over  the  whole  prison. 

The  Forty -Eighth  Xew  Yorkers  who  cumo  in  were  a  set  of 
chaps  so  odd  in  every  way  as  to  be  a  source  of  never-failing 
interest.  The  name  of  their  regiment  was  I;  Enfants  Perdu 
(the  Lost  Children^  which  we  anglicized  into  *;  The  Lost 
Ducks,''  It  was  believed  that  every  nation  in  Europe  was  rep 
resented  in  their  ranks,  and  it  used  to  be  said  jocularly,  that  no 
two  of  them  spoke  the  same  language.  As  near  as  I  could  Und 


AOTERSONVILLB. 

out  they  were  all  or  nearly  all  South  Europeans,  Italians,  Span 
iards,  Portuguese,  Levantines,  with  a  predominance  oi  the 
French  element.  They  wore  a  little  cap  with  an  upturned 
brim,  and  a  strap  resting  on  the  chin,  a  coat  with  funny  little 
tales  about  two  inches  long,  and  a  brass  chain  across  the  breast ; 
and  for  pantaloons  they  had  a  sort  of  a  petticoat  reaching  to 
the  knees,  and  sewed  together  down  the  middle.  They  were 
just  as  singular  otherwise  as  in  their  looks,  speech  and  uniform. 
On  one  occasion  the  whole  mob  of  us  went  over  in  a  mass  to 
their  squad  to  see  them  cook  and  eat  a  large  water  snake, 
which  two  of  them  had  succeeded  in  capturing  in  the  swamps, 
and  carried  off  to  their  mess,  jabbering  in  high  glee  over  their 
treasure  trove.  Any  of  UA  were  ready  to  eat  a  piece  of  dog, 
cat,  horse  or  mule,  if  we  could  get  it,  but,  it  was  generally 
agreed,  as  Davrson,  of  my  company  expressed  it,  that  "Nobody 
but  one  of  them  darned  queer  Lost  Ducks  would  eat  a  varmint 
like  a  water  snake." 

Major  Albert  Bogle,  of  the  Eighth  United  States,  (colored) 
had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Rebels  by  reason  of  a  severe 
wound  in  the  leg,  which  left  him  helpless  upon  the  field  fit 
Oolustee.  The  Rebels  treated  him  with  studied  indignity. 
They  utterly  refused  to  recognize  him  as  an  officer,  or  even  as 
a  man.  Instead  of  being  sent  to  Macon  or  Columbia,  where 
the  other  officers  were,  he  was  sent  to  Andersonville,  the  same 
as  an  enlisted  man.  No  care  was  given  his  wound,  no  surgeon 
would  examine  it  or  dress  it.  He  was  thrown  into  a  stock  car, 
without  a  bed  or  blanket,  and  hauled  over  the  rough,  jolting 
road  to  Andersonville.  Once  a  Rebel  officer  rode  up  and  fired 
several  shots  at  him,  as  he  lay  helpless  on  the  car  floor.  For 
tunately  the  Rebel's  marksmanship  was  as  bad  as  his  intentions, 
and  none  of  the  shots  took  effect.  He  was  placed  in  a  squad 
near  me,  and  compelled  to  get  up  and  hobble  into  line  when 
the  rest  were  mustered  for  roll-call.  No  opportunity  to  insult 
"  the  nigger  officer,"  was  neglected,  and  the  N' Yaarkers  vied 
with  the  Rebels  in  heaping  abuse  upon  him.  He  was  a  fine, 
intelligent  young  man,  and  bore  it  all  with  dignified  self-pos 
session,  until  after  a  lapse  of  some  weeks  the  Rebels  changed 
their  policy  and  took  him  from  the  prison  to  send  to  where  the 
flfficecs 


A  6TOET  OF  REBEL  MILITARY  PEISON3.  163 


The  negro  soldiers  were  also  treated  as  badly  as 
The  wounded  were  turned  into  the  Stockade  without  having 
their  hurts  attended  to.  One  stalwart,  suldieriy  Sergeant  had 
received  a  bullet  which  had  forced  its  way  under  the  scalp  for 
some  distance,  ajid  partially  imbedded  itself  in  the  skull,  whcro 
it  still  remained  He  suffered  intense  agony,  and  would  pass 
the  whole  night  walking  up  and  down  the  street  in  front  of 
our  tent,  moaning  distressingly.  The  bullet  could  be  felt 
plainly  with  the  fingers,  and  we  were  sure  that  it  would  not  be 
a  minute's  work,  with  a  sharp  knife,  to  remove  it  and  give  the 
man  relief.  But  we  could  not  prevail  upon  the  Ecbel  Surgeons 
even  to  §ee  the  man.  Finally  inflammation  set  in  and  he  died. 

The  negros  were  made  into  a  squad  by  themselves,  and  taken 
out  every  day  to  work  around  the  prison.  A  white  Sergeant 
was  placed  over  them,  who  was  the  object  of  the  contumely  of 
the  guards  and  other  Kebels.  One  day  as  he  was  standing  near, 
the  gate,  waiting  his  orders  to  come  out,  the  gate  guard,  with 
out  any  provocation  whatever,  dropped  his  gun  until  the  muzzle 
rested  against  the  Sergeant's  stomach,  and  fired,  killing  him 
instantly, 

The  Sergeantcy  was  then  offered  to  me,  but  as  I  had  no  acci 
dent  poiicy,  I  was  constrained  to  decline  the  honor. 


CHAPTER  XXIT* 

APRIL  —  LONGING  TO  GET  OUT  —  THE  DEATH  RATE  —  THE  PLAGUE  CO 
LICE THE  SO-CALLED  H.OSPITAL, 

April  brought  sunny  skies  and  balmy  weather.'  Existence 
became  much  more  tolerable.  "With  freedom  it  would  have 
been  enjoyable,  even  had  we  been  no  better  fed,  clothed  and 
sheltered.  But  imprisonment  had  never  seemed  so  hard  to 
bear — even  in  the  first  few  weeks  —  as  now.  It  was  easier  to 
submit  to  confinement  to  a  limited  area,  when  cold  and  rain 
were  aiding  hunger  to  benumb  the  faculties  and  chill  the  ener 
gies  than  it  was  now,  when  Nature  was  rousing  her  slumbering 
forces  to  activity,  and  earth,  and  air  and  sky  were  filled  with 
stimulus  to  man  to  imitate  her  example.  The  yearning  to  be 
up  and  doing  something  —  to  turn  these  golden  hours  to  good 
account  for  self  and  country  —  pressed  into  heart  and  brain  as 
the  vivifying  sap  pressed  into  tree-duct  and  plant  cell,  awaking 
all  vegetation  to  energetic  life. 

To  be  compelled,  at  such  a  time,  to  lie  around  in  vacuous  idle 
ness  —  to  spend  days  that  should  be  crowded  full  of  action  in 
a  monotonous,  objectless  routine  of  hunting  lice,  gathering  at 
roll-call,  and  drawing  and  cooking  our  scanty  rations,  was 
torturing. 

But  to  many  of  our  number  the  aspirations  for  freedom  were 
not,  as  with  us,  the  desire  for  a  wider,  manlier  field  of  action, 
so  much  as  an  intense  longing  to  get  where  care  and  comforts 
would  arrest  their  swift  progress  to  the  shadowy  hereafter. 
The  cruel  rains  had  sapped  away  their  stamina,  and  they  could 
not  recover  it  with  the  meager  and  innutritious  diet  of  coarse 
meal,  and  an  occasional  scrap  of  salt  meat.  Quick  consump 
tion,  bronchitis;  pneumonia,  low  fever  and  diarrhea  seized  upon 


A  8TOSY  Of  XXB&  JBLTfAXT  PBffiOKS.  165 

these  ready  victims  for  their  ravages,  and  bore  them  off  at  the 
rate  of  nearly  a  score  a  day, 

It  now  became  a  part  of  the  day's  regular  rontine  to  take  a 
walk  past  the  gates  in  the  morning,  inspect  and  count  the  dead, 
and  see  if  any  friends  were  among  them.  Clothes  having  by  this 
time  become  a  very  important  consideration  with  the  prisoners, 
it  was  the  custom  of  the  mess  in  which  a  man  died  to  remove 
from  his  person  all  garments  that  were  of  any  account,  and  so 
many  bodies  were  carried  out  nearly  naked.  The  hands  were 
crossed  upon  the  breast,  the  big  toes  tied  together  with  a  bit  of 
string,  and  a  slip  of  paper  containing  the  man's  name,  rank, 
company  and  regiment  was  pinned  on  the  breast  of  his  shirt. 

The  appearance  of  the  dead  was  indescribably  ghastly.  The 
unclosed  eyes  shone  with  a  stony  glitter  — 

AD  orphans  corse  wooid  drag  to  hell 

A  spirit  from  on  high  : 
But,  0,  more  terrible  than  that, 

Is  the  curse  in  a  dead  man's  eye. 

The  lips  and  nostrils  were  distorted  with  pain  and  hunger,  the 
sallow,  dirt-grimed  skin  drawn  tensely  over  the  facial  bones, 
and  the  whole  framed  with  the  long,  lank,  matted  hair  and 
beard.  Millions  of  lice  swarmed  over  the  wasted  limbs  and 
ridged  ribs.  These  verminous  pests  had  become  so  numerous 
—  owing  to  our  lack  of  changes  of  clothing,  and  of  facilities  for 
boiling  what  we  had  —  that  the  most  a  healthy  man  could  do 
to  keep  the  number  feeding  upon  his  person  down  to  a 
reasonable  limit  —  say  a  few  table- 
gpoonfuls.  When  a  man  became  so 
sick  as  to  be  unable  to  help  himself, 
the  parasites  speedily  increased  into 
millions,  or,  to  speak  more  compre 
hensively,  into  pints  and  quarts.  It 
did  not  even  seem  exaggeration 
when  some  one  declared  that  he  had 
seen  a  dead  man  with  more  than  a 
gallon  of  lice  on  him. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  irrita- 


of  insects  abridged  very  materially  the  dayspf  those  who  died, 


166  A^DERSOTTYTLLB. 

Where  a  sick  man  had  friends  or  comrades,  of  course  part  of 
their  duty,  in  taking  care  of  him,  was  to  "  louse  "  his  clothing. 
One  of  the  most  effectual  ways  of  doing  this  was  to  turn  the 
garments  wrong  side  out  and  hold  the  seams  as  close  to  the  fire 
as  possible,  without  burning  the  cloth.  In  a  short  time  the  lice 
would  swell  up  and  burst  open,  like  pop-corn.  This  method 
was  a  favorite  one  for  another  reason  than  its  efficacy :  it  gave 
one  a  keener  sense  of  revenge  upon  his  rascally  little  torment' 
ors  than  he  could  get  in  any  other  way. 

As  the  weather  grew  warmer  and  the  number  in  the  prison 
increased,  the  lice  became  more  unendurable.  They  even  filled 
the  hot  sand  under  our  feet,  and  voracious  troops  would  climb 
up  on  one  like  streams  of  ants  swarming  up  a  tree.  We  began 
to  have  a  full  comprehension  of  the  third  plague  with  which 
the  Lord  visited  the  Egyptians : 

And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  Say  unto  Aaron,  Stretch  out  thy  rod,  and  smite  the  dust  of 
the  land,  that  it.may  become  lice  through  all  the  land  of  Egypt. 

And  they  did  00  ;  for  Aaron  stretched  out  his  hand  with  his  rod,  and  smote  the  dust  of  th« 
Mrth,  and  it  became  lice  in  man  and  in  beast ;  all  the  dust  of  the  land  became  lice  throughout 
•11  the  land  of  Egypt. 

*•  The  total  number  of  deaths  in  April,  according  to  the  official 
report,  was  five  hundred  and  seventy-six,  or  an  average  of  over 
nineteen  a  day.  There  was  an  average  of  five  thousand  pris 
oners  in  the  pen  during  all  but  the  last  few  days  of  the  month, 
when  the  number  was  increased  by  the  arrival  of  the  captured  • 
garrison  of  Plymouth.  This  would  make  the  loss  over  eleven 
per  cent.,  and  so  worse  than  decimation.  At  that  rate  we 
should  all  have  died  in  about  eight  months.  We  could  have 
gone  through  a  sharp  campaign  lasting  those  thirty  days  and 
not  lost  so  great  a  proportion  of  our  forces.  The  British  had 
about  as  many  men  as  were  in  the  Stockade  at  the  battle  of 
2STew  Orleans,  yet  their  loss  in  killed  fell  much  short  of  the 
deaths  in  the  pen  in  April. 

A  makeshift  of  a  hospital  was  established  in  the  northeastern 
corner  of  the  Stockade.  A  portion  of  the  ground  was  divided 
irom  the  rest  of  the  prison  by  a  railing,  a  few  tent  flies  were 
stretched,  and  in  these  the  long  leaves  of  the  pine  were  made 
into  apologias  for  beds  of  about  the  goodness  of  the  straw  on 
a  Northern  farmer  beds  his  stock.  The  sick  taken  there 
no  better  off  than  if  they  had  staid  with  their  comrades. 


OF  REBEL  MILITABY  PSlSONg.  16T 


That  they  needed  to  bring'  [about  their  recovery  was 
clean  clothing,  nutritious  food,  shelter  and  freedom  from  the 
tortures  of  the  lice.  They  obtained  none  of  these.  Save  a 
fev^  decoctions  of  roots,  there  were  no  medicines  ;  the  sick 
were  fed  the  same  coarse  corn  meal  that  brought  about  the 
malignant  dysentery  from  which  they  all  suffered  ;  they  wore 
and  slept  in  the  same  vermin-infested  clothes,  and  there  could 
be  but  one  result  :  the  official  records  show  that  seventy-six 
per  cent,  of  those  taken  to  the  hospitals  died  there. 

The  establishment  of  the  hospital  was  specially  unfortunate 
for  my  little  squad.  TJhe  ground  required  for  it  compelled  a 
general  reduction  of  the  space  we  all  occupied.  We  had  to 
tear  down  our  huts  and  move.  By  this  time  the  materials  had 
become  so  dry  that  we  could  not  rebuild  with  them,  as  the  pine 
tufts  fell  to  pieces.  This  reduced  the  tent  and  bedding  material 
of  our  party  —  now  numbering  five  —  to  a  cavalry  overcoat 
and  a  blanket.  AVe  scooped  a  hole  a  foot  deep  in  the  sand  and 
stuck  our  tent-poles  around  it.  By  day  we  spread  our  blanket 
over  the  poles  for  a  tent.  At  night  we  lay  down  upon  the 
overcoat  and  covered  ourselves  with  the  blanket.  It  required 
considerable  stretching  to  make  it  go  over  live;  the  two  out 
side  fellows  used  to  get  very  chilly,  and  squeeze  the  three 
inside  ones  until  they  felt  no  thicker  than  a  wafer.  But  it  had 
to  do,  and  we  took  turns  sleeping  on  the  outside.  In  the 
course  of  a  few  weeks  three  of  my  chums  died  and  left  myself 
and  B.  B.  Andrews  (now  Dr.  Andrews,  of  Astoria,  111.)  sole 
heir*  to  and  occupants  of,  the  overcoat  and  blanket. 


STRIPPING  THE  DEAD  FOB  CLOTHE* 


CHAPTER  XXT. 

THE   ff  PLYHOTTTH  PTLGKOSB  "  —  BAD  TRANSTTHSF  FBO3I  OOWOBTASLB 

BAESAOES    TO    ANDEKSONYILLE  —  A   ORATED    PfiNHSYLYAlTIAE — 
DBXTELQPMKNT   OF   THE    &UTLEB    BUSINESS. 

"We  awoke  one  morning,  in  the  last  part  of  April,  to  find 
aEont  two  thousand  freshly  arrived  prisoners  lying  asleep  in 
the  main  streets  running  from  the  gates.  They  were  attired  in 
stylish  new  uniforms,  with  fancy  hats  and  shoes ;  the  Sergeants 
and  Corporals  wore  patent  leather  or  silk  chevrons,  and  each 
man  had  a  large,  well-filled  knapsack,  of  the  kind  new  recruits 
usually  carried  on  coming  first  to  the  front,  and  which  the 
older  soldiers  spoke  of  humorously  as  "  bureaus,"  They  vere 
the  snuggest,  nattiest  lot  of  soldiers  we  had  ever  seen,  outside 
of  the  "  paper  collar "  fellows  forming  the  headquarter  guard 
of  some  General  in  a  large  City.  As  one  of  my  companions 
surveyed  them,  he  said : 

"  Hulloa !  I'm  blanked  if  the  Johnnies  haven't  caught  a  reg 
iment  of  Brigadier  Generals,  somewhere." 

By-and-by  the  "  fresh  fish,"  as  all  new  arrivals  were  termed, 
"began  to  wake  up,  and  then  we  learned  that  they  belonged  to 
a  brigade  consisting  of  the  Eighty-Fifth  New  York,  One  Hun 
dred  and  First  and  One  Hundred  and  Third  Pensylvania,  Six. 
teenth  Connecticut,  Twenty-Fourth  »New  York  Battery,  two 
companies  of  Massachusetts  heavy  artillery,  and  a  company  of 
the  Twelfth  Kew  York  Cavalry. 

They  had  been  garrisoning  Plymouth,  N.  C.,  an  important 
seaport  on  the  Eoanoke  Ptiver.  s  Three  small  gunboats  assisted 
them  in  their  duty.  The  Rebels  constructed  a  powerful  iron 
clad  called  the  "  Albemarle,"  at  a  point  further  up  the  Koanoke, 
on  the  afternoon  of  the  17th,  with  her  aa4  three  brig* 


A  8T6KT  0V  BEfcEL  MILIT AE Y  PEISOSB, 


-109 


ades  of  infantry,  made  an  attack  tipon  the  post.  The  "  Albe- 
marle  "  ran  past  the  forts  unharmed,  sank  one  of  the  gunboats, 
and  drove  the  others  away.  She  then  turned  her  attention  to 
the  garrison,  which  she  took  in  the  rear,  while  the  infantry 
attacked  in  front.  Our  men  held  out  until  the  20th,  when  they 
capitulated.  They  were  allowed  to  retain  their  personal  effects^ 
of  all  kinds,  and,  as  is  the  case  with  all  ™<*n  in  garrison,  these 
were  considerable. 

The  One  Hundred  and  First  and  One  Hundred  «xd 
Pennsylvania  and  Eighty-Fifth  New  York  had  just  " 
ized,"  and  received  their  first  instalment  of  veteran  bounty. 
Had  they  not  been  attacked,  they  would  have  sailed  &ar  hon» 
in  a  day  or  two,  oa  their  veteran  fop- 
lough,  and  this  accounted  for  thieir  fore 
raiment  They  were  made  up  of  boys 
from  good  New  York  and  Pennsyl 
vania  families,  and  were,  as  a  n^e, 
intelligent  and  fairly  educated. 

Their  horror  at  the  appearance  of  thefr 
place  of  incarceration  was  beyond  ex 
pression.  At  one  moment  they  could 
not  comprehend  that  we  dirty  and  hag' 
gard  tatterdemalions  had  once  been 
clean,  self-respecting,  well-fed  soldiers 
like  themselves  ;  at  the  next  they  would 
affirm  that  they  knew  they  could  not 
stand  it  a  month,  where  we  had  then 
endured  it  from  four  to  nine  months. 
They  took  it,  in  every  way,  the  hardest 
of  any  prisoners  that  came  m,  except 
some  of  the  Hundred-Days'  men,  who 
were  brought,  in  in  August,  from  the 
Yalley  of  Virginia.  They  had  served 
nearly  all  their  time  in  various  garrisons 
along  t he  seacoast  —  from  Fortress ^lonroe  to  Beaufort  —  where 
they  had  had  comparatively  little  of  the  actual  hardships  of  sol 
diering  in  the  field.  They  had  nearly  always  had  comfortable 
quarters,  an  abundance  of  food,  few  hard  marches  or  other 
severe  service.  Consequently  they  were  not  so  well  hardened 
for  Anderson, ville  as  the  majority  who  oune  in-  In  other 


,  AITDERSONYTLLE. 


respects  they  were  better  prepared,  as  they  had  an  abundance 
of  clothing,  blankets  and  cooking  utensils,  and  each  man  had 
some  of  his  veteran  bounty  still  in  possession. 

It  was  painful  to  see  how  rapidly  many  of  them  sank  under 
the  miseries  of  the  situation.  They  gave  up  the  moment  the 
gates  were  closed  upon  them,  and  began  pining  away.  "We 
older  prisoners  buoyed  ourselves  up  continually  with  hopes  of 
escape  or  exchange.  "We  dug  tunnels  with  the  persistence  of 
beavers,  and  we  watched  every  possible  opportunity  to  get  out 
side  the  accursed  walls  of  the  pen.  But  we  could  not  enlist  the 
interest  of  these  discouraged  ones  in  any  of  our  schemes,  or 
talk.  They  resigned  themselves  to  Death,  and  waited  despond- 
ingly  till  he  came. 

A  middle-aged  One  Hundred  and  First  Pennsylvanian,  who 
had  taken  up  his  quarters  near  me,  was  an  object  of  peculiar 
interest.  [Reasonably  intelligent  and  fairly  read,  I  presume 
that  he  was  a  respectable  mechanic  before  entering  the  Army. 
He  was  evidently  a  very  domestic  man,  whose  whole  happiness 
centered  in  his  family. 

"When  he  first  came  in  he  was  thoroughly  dazed  by  the  greaV 
ness  of  his  misfortune.  He  would  sit  for  hours  with  his  face 
in  his  hands  and  his  elbows  on  his  knees,  gazing  out  upon  the 
mass  of  men  and  huts,  with  vacant,  lack-luster  eyes.  "We 
could  not  interest  him  in  anything.  "We1  tried  to  show  him 
how  to  fix  his  blanket  up  to  give  him  some  shelter,  but  he  went 
at  the  work  in  a  disheartened  way,  and  finally  smiled  feebly 

and  stopped.  He  had  some  letters 
from  his  family  and  a  melaineotype 
of  a  plain-faced  woman  —  his  wife 
—  and  her  children,  and  spent  much 
time  in  looking  at  them.  At  first 
lie,  ate  his  rations  when  he  drew 
them,  but  finally  began  to  reject 
them.  In  a  few  days  he  was  deli 
rious  with  hunger  and  homesick 
ness.  He  would  sit  on  the  sand 
for  hours  imagining  that  he  was  at 
Ins  family  table,  dispensing  Uia 


THU  CP.AZT 


frugal  hospitalities  to  his  wife  and  children. 


A  8TOET  0*  EEBEL  MTLITAST  FHBOBTB.  1T1 

Making  a  motion,  as  if  presenting  a  dish,  he  would  say : 

"  Janie,  have  another  biscuit,  do  !  " 

Or, 

"Eddie,  son,  won't  you  have  another  piece  of  this  nice 
Bteak  ? " 

Or, 

"  Maggie,  have  some  more  potatos,"  and  so  on,  through  a 
whole  family  of  six,  or  more.  It  was  a  relief  to  us  when  he 
died  in  about  a  month  after  he  came  in. 

As  stated  above,  the  Plymouth  men  brought  in  a  large 
amount  of  money  —  variously  estimated  at  from  ten  thousand 
to  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  presence  of  this  quan 
tity  of  circulating  medium  immediately  started  a  lively  com 
merce  All  sorts  of  devices  were  resorted  to  by  the  other  pris 
oners  to  get  a  little  of  this  wealth.  Rude  chuck-a-luck  boards 
were  constructed  out  of  such  material  as  was  attainable,  and 
put  in  operation.  Dice  and  cards  were  brought  out  by  those 
skilled  in  such  matters.  As  those  of  us  already  in  the  Stock 
ade  occupied  all  the  ground,  there  was  no  disposition  on  the 
part  of  many  to  surrender  a  portion  of  their  space  without 
exacting  a  pecuniary  compensation.  Messes  having  ground  in 
a  good  location  would  frequently  demand  and  get  ten  dollars  for 
permission  for  two  or  three  to  quarter  with  them.  Then  there 
was  a  great  demand  for  poles  to  stretch  blankets  over  to  make 
tents ;  the  Rebels,  with  their  usual  stupid  cruelty,  would  not 
supply  these,  nor  allow  the  prisoners  to  go  out  and  get  them 
themselves.  Many  of  the  older  prisoners  had  poles  to  spare 
which  they  were  saving  up  for  fuel.  They  sold  these  to  the 
Plymouth  folks  at  the  rate  of  ten  dollars  for  throe — enough 
to  put  up  a  blanket. 

The  most  considerable  trading  was  done  through  the  gates. 
The  Rebel  guards  were  found  quite  as  keen  to  barter  as  they 
had  been  in  Richmond.  Though  the  laws  against  their  dealing 
in  the  money  of  the  enemy  were  still  as  stringent  as  ever,  their 
thirst  for  greenbacks  was  not  abated  one  whit,  and  they  were 
ready  to  sell  anything  they  had  for  the  coveted  currency.  The 
rate  of  exchange  was  seven  or  eight  dollars  in  Confederate 
money  for  one  dollar  in  greenbacks.  Wood,  tobacco,  meat, 
dour,  Deans,  molasses,  onions  ana  a  villaiaous  "krnH  of  whisky. 


made  from  sorghum,  were  the  staple  articles  of  trade.  A  whole 
race  of  little  traffickers  in  these  articles  sprang  up,  and  finally 
Selden,  the  Kebel  Quartermaster,  established  a  sutler  shop  in 
the  center  of  the  North  Side,  which  he  put  in  ciaarge  of  Ira 
Beverly,  of  the  One  Hundredth  Ohio,  and  Charlie  Huckleby, 


MIDNK3HT    ATTACK    OF    THE    RATDEBS. 

of  the  Eighth  Tennessee.  It  was  a  fine  illustration  of  the 
development  of  the  commercial  instinct  in  some  men.  No 
more  Tunlikely  place  for  making  money  could  be  imagined, 
yet  starting  in  without  a  cent,  they  contrived  to]  turn  and 
twist  and  trade,  until  they  had  transferred  to  their  pockets 
a  portion  of  the  funds  which  were  in  some  one  else's. 
The  Rebels,  of  course,  got  nine  out  of  every  ten  dollars  there 
was  in  the  prison,  but  these  middle  men  contrived  to  have  a  little 
Off  it  stick  to  their  fingers. 

It  was  only  the  very  few  who  were  able  to  do  this.      Xine 
hundred  and  ninety -nine  out  of  every  thousand  were,  like  my- 


±  8TOXT  OW  KBSEL  OTLITABY  FEIBOSa.  173 

•elf,  eithei  wholly  destitute  of  money  and  unable  to  get  it  from 
anybody  els<?,  or  they  paid  out  what  money  they  had  to  the 
middlemen,  in  exorbitant  prices  for  articles  of  food. 

The  X'Yaarkers  had  still  another  method  for  getting  food, 
money,  blankets  &nd  elothing.  They  formed  little  bands 
called  "  Kaiders,"  uncisr  the  leadership  of  a  chief  villain.  One 
of  these  bands  would  select  as  their  victim  a  man  who  had 
good  blankets,  clothes,  a  watch,  or  greenbacks.  Frequently  he 
would  be  one  of  the  little  traders,  with  a  sack  of  beans,  a  piece 
of  meat,  or  something  of  that  kind.  Pouncing  upon  him  at 
night  they  wouM  snatch  away  IT'S  possessions,  knock  down  his 
friends  who  came  to  his  assistance  fts£  e^try  %way  into  the 
darkness* 


CHAPTEK  XXYL 

LONGUTG8   FOE   GOD*  8  COUNTRY  —  CONSIDERATK/SS    OF  THE   METHODS 
OF     GETTING     THEEE  -  EXCHANGE     AND     ESCAPE  -  DIGGING    TUS- 


MBNT    OF    A    TRAITOB. 

To  our  minds  the  world  now  contained  but  two  grand 
divisions,  as  widely  different  from  each  other  as  happiness  and 
misery.  The  first  —  that  portion  over  which  our  flag  floated  — 
was  usually  spoken  of  as  "  God's  Country  ;"  the  other  —  that 
under  the  baneful  shadow  of  the  banner  of  rebellion  —  was 
designated  by  the  most  opprobrious  epithets  at  the  speaker's 
command. 

To  get  from  the  latter  to  the  former  was  to  attain,  at  one 
bound,  the  highest  good.  Better  to  be  a  doorkeeper  in  the 
House  of  the  Lord,  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  than  to  dwell 
in  the  tents  of  wickedness,  under  the  hateful  Southern  Cross. 

To  take  even  the  humblest  and  hardest  of  service  in  the  field 
now  would  be  a  delightsome  change.  We  did  not  ask  to  go 
home  —  we  would  be  content  with  anything,  so  long  as  it  was 
in  that  blest  place  —  "  within  our  lines."  Only  let  us  get  back 
once,  and  there  would  be  no  more  grumbling  at  rations  or 
guard  duty  —  we  would  willingly  endure  all  the  hardships  and 
privations  that  soldier  flesh  is  heir  to. 

There  were  two  ways  of  getting  back  —  escape  and  exchange. 
Exchange  was  like  the  ever  receding  mirage  of  the  desert,  that 
lures  the  thirsty  traveler  on  over  the  parched  sands,  with  illu 
sions  of  refreshing  springs,  only  to  leave  his  bones  at  last  to 
whiten  by  the  side  of  those  of  his  unremembered  predecessors. 
Every  day  there  came  something  to  build  up  the  hopes  that  ex- 


A  STORY  OF  REBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS.  176 

change  was  near  at  hand  —  every  day  brought  something  to 
extinguish  the  hopes  of  the  preceding  one.  We  took  these' 
varying  phases  according  to  our  several  temperaments.  The 
sanguine  built  themselves  up  on  the  encouraging  reports;  the 
desponding  sank  down  and  died  under  the  discouraging  ones. 

Escape  was  a  perpetual  allurement.  To  the  actively  inclined 
among  us  it  seemed  always  possible,  and  daring,  busy  brains 
were  indefatigable  in  concocting  schemes  for  it.  The  only  bit 
of  Rebel  brain  work  that  I  ever  saw  for  which  I  did  not  feel 
contempt  was  the  perfect  precautions  taken  to  prevent  our 
escape.  This  is  shown  by  the  fact  that,  although,  from  first  to 
last,  there  were  nearly  fifty  thousand  prisoners  in  Anderson- 
ville,  and  three  out  of  every  five  of  these  were  ever  on  the 
alert  to  take  French  leave  of  their  captors,  only  three  hundred 
and  twenty-eight  succeeded  in  getting  so  far  away  from  Ander- 
sonville  as  to  leave  it  to  be  presumed  that  they  had  reached 
our  lines. 

The  first,  and  almost  superhuman  difficulty  was  to  get  out- 
Bide  the  Stockade.  It  was  simply  impossible  to  scale  it.  The 
guards  were  too  close  together  to  allow  an  instant's  hope  to 
the  most  sanguine,  that  he  could  even  pass  the  Dead  Line  with 
out  being  shot  by  some  one  of  them.  This  same  closeness  pre 
vented  any  hope  of  bribing  them.  To  be  successful  half  those 
on  post  would  have  to  be  bribed,  as  every  part  of  the  Stockade 
was  clearly  visible  from  every  other  part,  and  there  was  no 
night  so  dark  as  not  to  allow  a  plain  view  to  a  number  of 
guards  of  the  dark  figure  outlined  against  the  light  colored 
logs  of  any  Yankee  who  should  essay  to  clamber  towards  the 
top  of  the  palisades. 

The  gates  were  so  carefully  guarded  every  time  they  were 
opened  as  to  preclude  hope  of  slipping  out  through  them. 
They  were  only  unclosed  twice  or  thrice  a  day  —  once  to  admit 
the  men  to  call  the  roll,  once  to  let  them  out  again,  once  to  let 
the  wagons  come  in  with  rations,  and  once,  perhaps,  to  admit 
new  prisoners.  At  all  these  times  every  precaution  was  taken 
to  prevent  any  one  getting  out  surreptitiously. 

This  narrowed  down  the  possibilities  of  passing  the  limits  of 
the  pen  alive,  to  tunneling.  This  was  also  surrounded  by 
almost  insuperable  difficulties.  First,  it  required  not  less  than 


ITS 


fifty  feet  of  subterranean  excavation  to  get  out,  which  was  an 
enormous  work  with  our  limited  means.  Tben  the  logs  forming 
the  Steckade  were  set  in  the  ground  to  a  depth  of  five  feet,  and 
tfee  temnel  had  to  go  down  beneath  them.  They  had  an  un 
pleasant  habit  of  dropping  down  into  the  burrow  under  them. 
It-added  much  to  the  discouragements  of  tunneling  to  think  of 
one  of  these  massive  timbers  dropping  upon  a  fellow  as  he 
worked  his  mole-like  way  under  it,  aaad  either  erushing  him  to 
death,  outright,  or  pinning  him  there  to  die  of  suffocation  or 


In  one  instance,  in  a  tunnel  near  me,  but  in  which  I  was  net 
interested,  the  log  slipped  down  after  the  digger  had  got  out 
beyond,  it.  He  immediately  began  digging  for  the  surface,  for 
12e,  and  was  fortunately  able  to  break  through  before  he  suf 
focated.  He  got  his  head  above  the  ground,  and  then  fainted. 

The  guard  outside  saw  him,  pulled 
him  out  of  the  hole,  and  when  he 
recovered  sensibility  hurried  him 
back  into  the  Stoekada. 
£  In  another  tunnel,  also  near  us, 
a  broad-shouldered  German,  of 
the  Second  Minnesota,  went  in 
to  take  his  turn  at  digging.  He 
was  so  much  larger  than  any  of 
his  predecessors  that  he  stuck 
fast  in  a  narrow  part,  and  despite 
all  the  efforts  of  himself  and 
comrades,  it  was  found  impossi 
ble  to  move  him  one  way  or  the  other.  The  comrades  were  at 
last  reduced  to  the  humiliation  of  informing  the  Officer  of  the 
Guard  of  their  tunnel  and  the  condition  of  their  friend,  and 
of  asking  assistance  to  release  him,  which  was  given. 

The  great  tunneling  tool  was  the  indispensable  half-canteen. 
The  inventive  genius  of  our  people,  stimulated  by  the  war, 
produced  nothing  for  the  comfort  and  effectiveness  of  the 
soldier  equal  in  usefulness  to  this  humble  and  unrecognized 
utensil.  It  will  be  remembered  that  a  canteen  was  composed 
of  two  pieces  of  tin  struck  up  into  the  shape  of  saucers,  and 
soldered  together  at  the  edges.  After  a  soldier  had  been  in 


G?   A  TU2THKL 

ZNTZRPIU3B. 


A  STOEY  OF  EEBEL  MILITARY  PHISO^  177 


the  field  a  little  while,  and  thrown  away  or  lost  the  curious  and 
complicated  kitchen  furniture  he  started  out  with,  he  found 
that  by  melting  the  halves  of  his  canteen  apart,  he  had  a  vessel 
much  handier  in  every  way  than  any  lie  had  parted  with.  It 
could  be  used  for  anything  —  to  make  soup  or  coffee  in,  bake 
bread,  brown  coffee,  stew  vegetables,  etc.,  etc.  A  sufficient 
handle  was  made  with  a  split  stick.  When  the  cooking  was 
done,  the  handle  was  thrown  away,  and  the  half  canteen  slipped 
out  of  the  road  into  the  haversack.  There  seemed  to  be  no 
end  of  the  uses  to  which  this  ever-ready  disk  of  blackened  sheet 
iron  could  be  turned.  Several  instances  are  oh  record  where 
infantry  regiments,  with  no  other  tools  than  this,  covered 
themselves  on  the  field  with  quite  respectable  rifle  pits. 

The  starting  point  of  a  tunnel  was  always  some  tent  close 
to  the  Dead  Line,  and  sufficiently  well  closed  to  screen  the 
operations  from  the  sight  of  the  guards  near  by.  The  party 
engaged  in  the  work  organized  by  giving  every  man  a  number 

to    secure   the    proper 
of    the 
One 

began  digging  with  his 
half  canteen.  After  he 
had  worked  until  tired, 
he  came  out,  and 


The  tunnel 
a   round, 

rat-like  burrow,  a  little 
larger  than  a  man's 
body.  The  digger  lay  on  his  stomach,  dug  ahead  of  him.  threw  the 
dirt  under  him,  and  worked  it  back  with  his  feet  till  the  man 
behind  him,  also  lying  on  his  stomach,  could  catch  it  and  work  it 
back  to  the  next.  As  the  tunnel  lengthened  the  number  of  men 
behind  each  other  in  this  way  had  to  be  increased,  so  that  in  a 
tunnel  seventy-five  feet  long  there  would  be  from  eight  to  ten 
men  lying  one  behind  the  other.  TVhsn  the  dirt  was  poshed 
back  to  the  mouth  of  the  tunnel  it  was  taken  up  in  improvised 
bags,  made  by  tying  up  the  bottoms  of  pantaloon  legs;  carried  to 
the  .Swamp,  and  emptied.  The  work  in  the  tunnel  was  very 


178 

exhausting,  and  the  digger  had  to  be  relieved  erery  half- 
hour. 

The  greatest  trouble  was  to  carry  the  tunnel  forward  in  a 
straight  line.  As  nearly  everybody  dug  most  of  the  time  with 
the  right  hand,  there  was  an  almost  irresistible  tendency  to 
make  the  course  veer  to  the  left.  The  first  tunnel  I  was  con 
nected  with  was  a  ludicrous  illustration  of  this.  About  twenty 
of  us  had  devoted  our  nights  for  over  a  week  to  the  prolonga 
tion  of  a  burrow.  We  had  not  yet  reached  the  Stockade,  which 
astonished  us,  as  measurement  with  a  string  showed  that  we 
had  gone  nearly  twice  the  distance  necessary  for  the  purpose. 
The  thing  was  inexplicable,  and  we  ceased  operations  to  con 
sider  the  matter.  The  next  day  a  man  walking  by  a  tent  some 
little  distance  from  the  one  in  which  the  hole,  began,  was  badly 
startled  by  the  ground  giving  way  under  his  feet,  and  his  sink 
ing  nearly  to  his  waist  in  a  hole.  It  was  very  singular,  but 
after  wondering  over  the  matter  for  some  hours,  there  came  a 
glimmer  of  suspicion  that  it  might  be,  in  some  way,  connected 
with  the  missing  end  of  our  tunnel.  One  of  us  started  through 
on  an  exploring  expedition,  and  confirmed  the  suspicions  by 
coming  out  where  the  man  had  broken  through.  Our  tunnel 
'was  shaped  like  a  horse  shoe,  and  the  beginning  and  end  were 
not  fifteen  feet  apart.  After  that  we  practised  digging  with 
our  left  hand,  and  made  certain  compensations  for  the  tendency 
to  the  sinister  side. 

Another  trouble  connected  with  tunneling  was  the  number 
of  traitors  and  spies  among  us.  There  were  many  —  princi 
pally  among  the  N'Yaarker  crowd  —  who  were  always  zealous 
to  betray  a  tunnel,  in  order  to  curry  favor  with  the  Rebel 
officers.  Then,  again,  the  Rebels  had  numbers  of  their  own 
men  in  the  pen  at  night,  as  spies.  It  was  hardly  even  necessary 
to  dress  these  in  our  uniform,  because  a  great  many  of  our  own 
men  came  into  the  prison  in  Rebel  clothes,  having  been  com 
pelled  to  trade  garments  with  their  captors. 

One  day  in  May,  quite  an  excitement  was  raised  by  the 
detection  of  one  of  thesf  u  tunnel  traitors  "  in  such  a  way  as 
left  no  doubt  of  his  guiit.-  At  first  everybody  was  in  favor  of 
killing  him,  and  they  actually  started  to  beat  him  to  death. 
This  was  arrested  by  aj  proposition  to  "have  Captain  Jack 


A  8TOKT  OF  EEBEL  lOLITABT  PRISONS. 


179 


tattoo  him,"  and  the  suggestion  was  immediately  acted 
upon. 

"  Captain  Jack  "  was  a  sailor  who  had  been  with  us  in  the  Pem- 
berton  building  at  Kichmond.  He  was  a  very  skilful  -tattoo 
artist,  but,  I  am  sure,  could  make  the  process  nastier  than  any 
other  that  I  ever  saw  attempt  it.  He  chewed  tobacco  enor 
mously.  After  pricking  away  for  a  few  minutes  at  the  design 
on  the  arm  or  some  portion  of  the  body,  he  would  deluge  it 
with  a  flood  of  tobacco  spit,  which,  he  claimed,  acted  as  a  kind 
of  mordant.  Wiping  this  off  with  a  filthy  rag,  he  would  study 
the  effect  for  an  instant,  and  then  go  ahead  with  another  series 
of  prickings  and  tobacco  juice  drenchings. 

The  tunnel-traitor  was  taken  to  Captain  Jack.  That  worthy 
decided  to  brand  him  with  a  great  "  T,"  the  top  part  to  extend 
across  his  forehead  and  the  stem  to  run  down  his  nose.  Cap 
tain  Jack  got  his  tattooing  kit  ready,  and  the  fellow  was 


TATTOOING    THE    TOTNEL    TRAITOR. 

thrown  upon  the  ground  and  hekl  there.  The  Captain  took 
las  head  between  his  legs,  and  began  operations.  After  an 
instant's  work  with  the  needles,  he  opened  his  mouth,  and 
filled  the  wretch's  face  and  eyes  full  of  the  disgusting  saliva. 
The  crowd  round  about  yelled  with  delight  at  this  new  process. 
For  an  hour,  that  wxs  doubtless  an  eternity  to  the  rascal  under 
going  branding,  Captain  Jack  continued  his  alternate  pick- 
Logs  and  drenchings.  At  the  end  of  that  time  tbe  traitor's  face 


180  USTDEBSONYILLB. 

was  disfigured  with  a  hideous  mark  that  he  would  bear  to  hi3 
grave.  We  learned  afterwards  that  he  was  not  one  of  our  men, 
but  a  Kebel  spy.  This  added  mach  to  our  satisfaction  with  the 
manner  of  his  treatment  He  disappeared  shortly  after  the 
operation  was  finished,  being,  I  suppose,  taken  outside.  I 
hardly  think  Captain  Jack  would  be  pleased  to  meet  him  again. 


CHAPTER  XXYIL 

THE    HOTTNDB,    AND    THE    DIFF1OTJLTIE8    TUICY    PUT   IN    THE   WAY   OiF 
ESCAPE THE    WHOLE    SOUTH    PATROLLED    BY    THEM. 

Those  who  succeeded,  one  way  or  another,  in  passing  the 
Stockade  limits,  found  still  more  difficulties  lying  between  them 
and  freedom  than  would  discourage  ordinarily  resolute  men. 
The  first  was  to  get  away  from  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the 
prison.  All  around  were  Rebel  patrols,  pickets  and  guards, 
watching  every  avenue  of  egress.  Several  packs  of  hounds 
formed  efficient  coadjutors  of  these,  and  were  more  dreaded  by 
possible  "  escapes,"  than  any  other  means  at  the  command  of 
our  jailors.  Guards  and  patrols  could  be  evaded,  or  circum 
vented,  but  the  hounds  could  not.  Nearly  every  man  brought 
back  from  a  futile  attempt  at  escape  .told  the  same  story :  he 
had  been  able  to  escape  the  human  Rebels,  but  not  their  canine 
colleagues.  Three  of  our  detachment  —  members  of  the  Twen 
tieth  Indiana  —  bad  an  experience  of  this  kind  that  will  serve 
to  illustrate  hundreds  of  others.  They  had  been  taken  outside 
to  do  some  work  upon  the  cook-house  that  was  being  built.  A 
guard  was  sent  with  the  three  a  little  distance  into  the  woods 
to  get  a  piece  of  timber.  The  boys  sauntered  along  carelessly 
with  the  guard,  and  managed  to  get  pretty  near  him.  As  soon 
as  they  were  fairly  out  of  sight  of  the  rest,  the  strongest  of 
them  —  Tom  "Williams  —  snatched  the  Rebel's  runaway  from 
him.  and  the  other  two  springing  upon  him  us  swift  as  v/iid 
cats,  throttled  him,  so  that  he  could  not  give  the  alarm.  Still 
keeping  a  hand  on  his  throat,  they  led  him  off  some  distance, 
and  tied  him  to  a  sar/nr.  ,r  with  srrinirs  made  bv  te:iriri'.r  up  one 
of  their  blouses,  lie  was  also  securely  gagged,  aiul  tuo  boys* 


182 


AKDEESONYTLLE, 


bidding  him  a  hasty,  but  not  specially  tender,  farewell,  struck 
out,  as  they  fondly  hoped,  for  freedom.  It  was  not  long  until 
they  were  missed,  and  the  parties  sent  in  search  found  and  re 
leased  the  guard,  who  gave  all  the  information  he  possessed  as 


OVERPOWERING    A    GUARD. 

to  what  had  become  of  his  charges.  All  the  packs  of  hounds, 
the  squads  of  cavalry,  and  the  foot  patrols  were  sent  out  to 
scour  the  adjacent  country.  The  Yankees  kept  in  the  swamps 
and  creeks,  and  no  trace  of  them  was  found  that  afternoon  or 
evening.  By  this  time  they  were  ten  or  fifteen  miles  away, 
and  thought  that  they  could  safely  leave  the  creeks  for  better 
walking  on  the  solid  ground.  They  had  gone  but  a  few  mil**^ 
when  the  pack  of  hounds  Captain  "Wirz  was  with  took  their 
trail,  and  came  after  them  in  full  cry.  The  boys  tried  to  run, 
but,  exhausted  as  they  were,  they  could  make  no  headway. 
Two  of  them  were  soon  caught,  but  Tom  Williams,  who  waa 
go  desperate  that  he  preferred  death  to  recapture,  jumped  into 
a  nuil-poud  near  by.  When  he  came  up,  it  was  in  a  lot  of 


1  STORY  Of  REBEL  MILITARY  PHISOW3. 

saw  logs  and  drift  wood  that  hid  'him  from  being  seen  from 
the  shore.  The  dogs  stopped  at  the  shore,  and  bayed  after  the 
disappearing  prey.  The  Eebels  with  them,  who  had  seen  Tom 
spring  in,  came  up  and  made  a  pretty  thorough  search  for  him. 
As  they  did  not  think  to  probe  around  the  drift  wood  this 
was  unsuccessful,  and  they  came  to  the  conclusion  that  Tom  ^ 
had  been  drowned.  Wirz  marched  the  other  two  back  and,  for 
a  wonder,  did  not  punish  them,  probably  because  he  was  so 
rejoiced  at  his  success  in  capturing  them.  He  was  beaming 
with  delight  when  he-  returned  them  to  our  squad,  and  said, 
with  a  chuckle  :  — 

"  Brisoners,  I  pring  you  pack  two  of  dem  tarn  Yankees  wat 
got  away  yesterday,  unt  I  run  de  bder  raskal  into  a  mill-pent 
and  trowntet  him."  , 

What  was  our  astonishment,  about  three  weeks  later,  to  see 
Tom,  fat  and  healthy,  and  dressed  in  a  full  suit  of  butternut, 
come  stalking  into  the  pen.  lie  had  nearly  reached  the 
mountains,  when  a  pack  of  hounds,  patrolling  for  deserters  or 
negros,  took  his  trail,  where  he  had  crossed  the  road  from  one 
field  to  another,  and  speedily  ran  him  down.  lie  had  been  put 
in  a  little  country  jail,  and  well  fed  till  an  opportunity  occurred 
to  send  him  back.  This  patrolling  for  negros  and  deserters 
was  another  of  the  great  obstacles  to  a  successful  passage 
through  the  country.  The  Rebels  had  put  every  able-bodied 
white  man  in  the  ranks,  and  were  bending  every  energy  to  keep 
him  there.  The  whole  country  was  carefully  policed  by  Provost 
Marshals  to  bring  out  those  who  were  shirking  military  duty, 
or  had  deserted  their  colors,  and  to  check  any  movement  by 
the  negros.  One  could  not  go  anywhere  without  a  pass,  as 
every  road  was  continually  watched  by  men  and  hounds.  It 
was  the  policy  of  our  men.  when  escaping,  to  avoid  roads  as 
much  as  possible  by  traveling  through  the  woods  and  fields. 

From  what  I  saw  of  the  hounds,  and  what  I  could  learn  from 
others,  I  believe  that  each  pack  was  made  up  of  two  blood 
hounds  and  from  twenty -five  to  fifty  other  dogs.  The  blood 
hounds  were  debased  descendants  of  the  strong  and  fierce 
hounds  imported  from  Cuba — many  of  them  by  the  United 
States  Government  —  for  hunt  in. c-  Indians,  during  the  Serninolo 
war.  The  other  dogs  were  the  mongrels  that  are  found  La 


every  Southern  house  —  increasing,  as 
a  role,  in  numbers  as  the  inhabitant  of  the  house  is  lower  down 
and  pooler.  They  are  like  wolves,  sneaking  and  cowardly 

beM  when  in  packs.    Each  pack  was 


A   MASTER    OF   THE    HOTIND&. 

managed  by  a  well-armed  man,  who  rode  a  mule,  and  earned, 
sl'ong  over  his  shoulders  by  a  cord,  a  cow  horn,  scraped  very 
thin,  with  which  he  controlled  the  band  by  signals, 

What  always  puzzled  me  much  was  why  the  hounds  tools 
only  Yankee  trails,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  prison.  There  was 
aixmt  the  Stockade  from  six  thousand  to  ten  thousand  Rebels 
and  negros,  including  guards,  officers,  servants,  workmen,  etc. 
These  were,  of  course,  continually  in  motion  and  must  have 
dailv  made  trails  leading  in  every  direction.  It  was  the  cus 
tom  of  the  Rebels  to  send  a  pack  of  hounds  around  the  prison 
every  morning,  to  examine  if  any  Yankees  had  escaped  during 
the  night.  It  was  believed  that  they  rarely  failed  to  find  a 
prisoner's  tracks,  and  still  more  rarelv  ran  off  upon  a  Rebel's. 
If  those  outside  the  Stockade  hud  bewi  confined  to  certain  paths 


6TOBT  OF  EEBEL  MIUTABT  PEI3CN8. 


185 


and  roads  we  could  have  understood  this,  but,  as  I  imderstand, 
they  were  not.  It  was  part  of  the  interest  of  the  day,  for  us, 
to  watch  the  packs  go  yelping  around  the  pen  searching  for 
tracks.  We  got  information  in  this  way  whether  any  tunnels 
had  been  successfully  opened  during  the  night. 


TEAMING    A    PRISONER. 

The  use  of  hounds  furnished  us  a  crushing  reply  to  the  ever- 
recurrino;  Rebel  question : 

"  Why  are  you-uns  puttin'  niggers  in  the  field  to  fight  we-Tms 
for  ?  " 

The  questioner  was  always  silenced  by  the  return  interrog 
atory  : 

"  Is  that  as  bad  as  running,  white  men  down  with  blood 
hounds  I  " 


CHAPTEK  XXYIH 

MAT  —  INFLTJX      OF      NEW      PRI8ONEES DISPARITY      \f-     NTTMBTCR8 

BETWEEN     THE      EASTERN       AND     WESTERN       ARMIES TERRIBLE 

CROWDING SLAUGHTER   OF   MEN    AT   THE    CREEK. 

In  May  the  long  gathering  storm  of  war  burst  with  angry 
violence  all  along  the  line  held  by  the  contending  armies.  The 
campaign  began  which  was  to  terminate  eleven  months  later 
in  the  obliteration  of  the  Southern  Confederacy .  May  1, 
Sigel  moved  up  the  Shenandoah  Yalley  with  thirty  thousand 
men;  May  3,  Butler  began  his  blundering  movein.::.ii  against 
Petersburg;  May  3,  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  kit  Culpeper, 
and  on  the  5th  began  its  deadly  grapple  with  Lee,  in  the  Wil 
derness;  May  6,  Sherman  moved  from  Chattanooga,  and 
engaged  Joe  Johnston  at  Rocky  Face  Ridge  and  Tunnel  Kill. 

Each  of  these  columns  lost  heavily  in  prisoners.  It  could  not 
be  otherwise ;  it  was  a  consequence  of  the  aggressive  move 
ments.  An  army  acting  offensively  usually  suffers  more  from 
capture  than  one  on  the  defensive.  Our  armies  were  penetrat 
ing  the  enemy's  country  in  close  proximity  to  a  determined  and 
vigilant  foe.  Every  scout,  every  skirmish  line,  every  picket, 
every  foraging  party  ran  the  risk  of  falling  into  a  Rebel  trap. 
This  was  in  addition  to  the  risk  of  capture  in  action. 

The  bulk  of  the  prisoners  were  taken  from  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac.  For  this  there  were  two  reasons  :  First,  that  there 
were  many  more  men  in  that  Army  than  in  any  other ;  and 
second,  that  the  entanglement. in  the  dense  thickets  and  shrub 
bery  of  the  Wilderness  enabled  both  sides  to  capture  great 
numbers  of  the  other's  men.  Grant  lost  in  prisoners  from  May 
5  to  May  31,  seven  thousand  four  hundred  and  .fifty ;  he  prob 
ably  captured  two-tkirds  of  that  number  from  the  Johnnies. 


A  STOET  OF  EKBEL  MJLITABY  PRISONS.  187 

Wirz's  headquarters  were  established  in  a  large  log  house 
which  had  been  built  in  the  fort  a  little  distant  from  the  south 
east  corner  of  the  prison.  Every  day  —  and  sometimes  twice 
or  thrice  a  day  —  we  would  see  great  squads  of  prisoners 
marched  up  to  these  headquarters,  where  they  would  be 
searched,  their  names  entered  upon  the  prison  records,  by 
clerks  (detailed  prisoners  ;  few  Rebels  had  the  requisite  clerical 
skill)  and  then  be  marched  into  the  prison.  As  they  entered,  the 
Rebel  guards  would  stand  to  arms.  The  infantry  would  be  in 
tine  of  battle,  the  cavalry  mounted,  and  the  artillerymen  standing 
by  their  guns,  ready  to  open  at  the  instant  with  grape  and  can 
ister. 

The  disparity  between  the  number  coming  in  from  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  and  Western  armies  was  so  great,  that  we 
Westerners  began  to  take  some  advantage  of  it.  If  we  saw  a 
squad  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  or  thereabouts  at  the  head 
quarters,  we  felt  pretty  certain  they  were  from  Sherman,  and 
gathered  to  meet  them,  and  learn  the  news  from  our  friends. 
If  there  were  from  five  hundred  to  two  thousand  we  knew  they 
were  from  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  there  were  none  of 
our  comrades  among  them.  There  were  three  exceptions  to 
this  rule  while  we  were  in  Anderson ville.  The  first  was  in 
June,  when  the  drunken  and  incompetent  Sturgis  (now  Colonel 
of  the  Seventh  United  States  Cavalry)  shamefully  sacrificed  a 
superb  division  at  Guntown,  Miss.  The  next  was  after  Hood 
made  his  desperate  attack  on  Sherman,  on  the  22d  of  July,  and 
the  third  was  when  Stoneman  was  captured  at  Macon.  At 
each  of  these  times  about  two  thousand  prisoners  were 
brought  in. 

By  the  end  of  May  there  were  eighteen  thousand  four  hun 
dred  and  fifty-four  prisoners  in  the  Stockade.  Before  the 
reader  dismisses  this  statement  from  his  mind  let  him  reflect 
how  great  a  number  this  is.  It  is  more  active,  able-bodied 
young  men  than  there  are  in  any  of  our  leading  Cities,  save 
New  York  and  Philadelphia.  It  is  more  than  the  average 
population  of  an  Ohio  County.  It  is  four  times  as  many  troops 
as  Taylor  won  the  victory  of  Buena  Vista  with,  and  about 
twice  as  many  as  Scott  went  into  battle  with  ai  any  time  in  his 
march  to  the  City  of  Mexico. 


188  ANDERSONVILLB. 

These  eighteen  thousand  four  hundred  and  fifty-four  men 
\yere  cooped  up  on  less  than  thirteen  acres  of  ground,  making 
about  fifteen  hundred  to  the  acre.  E"o  room  could  be  given  up 
for  streets,  or  for  the  usual  arrangements  of  a  camp,  and  most 
kinds  of  exercise  were  wholly  precluded.  The  men  crowded 
together  like  pig§  nesting  in  the  woods  on  cold  nights.  The 
ground,  despite  all  our  efforts,  became  indescribably  filthy,  and 
this  condition  grew  rapidly  worse  as  the  season  advanced  and 
the  sun's  rays  gained  fervency.  As  it  is  impossible  to  describe 
this  adequately,  I  must  again  ask  the  reader  to  assist  with  a 
few  comparisons.  He  has  an  idea  of  how  much  filth  is  pro 
duced,  on  an  ordinary  City  lot,  in  a  week,  by  its  occupation  by 
a  family  say  of  six  persons.  Kow  let  him  imagine  what  would 
be  the  result  if  that  lot,  instead  of  having  upon  it  six  persons, 
with  every  appliance  for  keeping  themselves  clean,  and  for 
removing  and  concealing  filth,  was  the  home  of  one  hundred 
and  eight  men,  with  none  of  these  appliances. 

That  he  may  figure  out  these  proportions  for  himself,  I  will 
repeat  some  of  the  elements  of  the  problem :  We  will  say  that 
an  average  City  lot  is  thirty  feet  front  by  one  hundred  deep. 
This  is  more  front  than  most  of  them  have,  but  we  will  be 
liberal.  This  gives  us  a  surface  of  three  thousand  square  feet. 
An  acre  contains  forty-three  thousand  five  hundred  and  sixty 
square  feet.  Upon  thirteen  of  these  acres,  we  had  eighteen 
thousand  four  hundred  and  fifty-four  men.  After  he  has  found 
the  number  of  square  feet  that  each  man  had  for  sleeping 
apartment,  dining  room,  kitchen,  exercise  grounds '  and  out 
houses,  and  decided  that  nobody  could  live  for  any  length  of 
time  in  such  contracted  space,  I  will  tell  him  that  a  few  weeks 
later  double  that  many  men  were  crowded  upon  that  space  — 
that  over  thirty-five  thousand  were  packed  upon  those  twelve 
and  a-half  or  thirteen  acres. 

But  I  will  not  anticipate.  With  the  warm  weather  the  con 
dition  of  the  swamp  in  the  center  of  the  prison  became  simply 
horrible.  We  hear  so  much  now-a-days  of  blood  poisoning 
from  the  effluvia  of  sinks  and  sewers,  that  .reading  it,  I  wonder 
how  a  man  inside  the  Stockade,  and  into  whose  nostrils  came  a 
breath  of  that  noisomeness.  escaped  being  curried  oil  by  a 
malignant  typhus,  in  the  slimy  ooze  were  billions  of  white 


A  8TOET  OF  EEBEL  MILITANT  PBISONS. 


189 


Jnaggots.  They  would  crawl  out  by  thousands  on  the  warm 
sand.  and.  lying  there  a  few  minutes,  sprout  a  wing  or  a  pair 
of  them.  With  these  they  would  essay  a  clumsy  flight,  ending 
by  dropping  down  upon  some  exposed  portion  of  a  man's  body, 
and  stinging  him  like  a  gad-fly.  Still  worse,  they  would  drop 
aato  what  he  was  cooking,  and  the  utmost  care  eould  not  pre 
heat  a  mess  of  food  from  being  contaminated  with  them. 

All  the  water  that  we  had  to  use  was  that  in  the  creek  which 
flowed  through  this  seething  mass  of  corruption,  and  received 
its  sewerage.  How  pure  the  water  was  when  it  came  into  the 


^®M«frM^^^atC 


SHOT  AT  THE  CREEK  BY  THE  GUARD.  . 

Stockade  was  a  question.     TTe  always  believed  that  it  received 

the  drainage  from  the  crimps  of  the  innards,  a  hali-a-mile  away. 
A  road  was  made  across  the  swamp,  along1  the  Bead  Line  at 
I'le  west  side,  where  the  creek  entered  the  pen.     Those  getting 
water  wouid  iro  to  this  spot,  and  rcacu  a.s  far  up  the  stream  as 
o  get  tiie  water  mat  wa^  least  iilthy.     As  they  could 


190  JJIDEBflOirVlLIJt 

reach  nearly  to  the  Dead  Line  this  furnished  an  excuse  to  such 
of  the  guards  as  were  murderously  inclined  to  fire  upon  them. 
I  think  I  hazard  nothing  in  saying  that  for  weeks  at  least  one 
man  a  day  was  killed  at  this  place.  The  murders  became 
monotonous ;  there  was  a  dreadful  sameness  to  them.  A  gun 
would  crack ;  looking  up  we  would  see,  still  smoking,  the  muz 
zle  of  the  musket  of  one  of  the  guards  on  either  side  of  the 
creek.  At  the  same  instant  would  rise  a  piercing  shriek  from 
the  man  struck,  now  floundering  in  the  creek  in  his  death 
agony.  Then  thousands  of  throats  would  yell  out  curses  and 
denunciations,  and  — 

"  O,  give  the  Kebel a  furlough ! n 

It  was  our  belief  that  every  guard  who  killed  a  Yankee  was 
rewarded  with  a  thirty-day  furlough.  Mr.  Frederick  Holliger, 
now  of  Toledo,  formerly  a  member  of  the  Seventy-Second 
Ohio,  and  captured  at  Guntown,  tells  me,  as  his  introduction  to 
Anderson ville  life,  that  a  few  hours  after  his  entry  he  went  to 
the  brook  to  get  a  drink,  reached*  out  too  far,  and  was  fired 
upon  by  the  guard,  who  missed  him,  but  killed  another  man 
and  wounded  a  second.  Th£  other  prisoners  standing  near 
then  attacked  him,  and  beat  him  nearly  to  death,  for  having 
drawn  the  fire  of  the  guard 

Nothing  could  be  more  inexcusable  than  these  murders. 
Whatever  defense  there  might  be  for  firing  on  men  who 
touched  the  Dead  Line  in  other  parts  of  the  prison,  there  could 
be  none  here.  The  men  had  no  intention  of  escaping;  they 
had  no  designs  upon  the  Stockade ;  they  were  not  leading  any 
party  to  assail  it  They  were  in  every  instance  killed  in  the 
act  of  reaching  out  with  their  cups  to  dip  up  a  little  water. 


CHAPTEK  XXIX. 

ROME     DISTINCTION     BETWEEN     SOLDIERLY     DUTY     AND     MTJRD&B A 

PLOT    TO    ESCAPE IT    IS    REVEALED    AND    FRUSTRATED. 

Let  the  reader  understand  that  in  any  strictures  I  make  I  do 
not  complain  of  the  necessary  hardships  of  war.  I  understood 
fully  and  accepted  the  conditions  of  a  soldiers  career.  My 
going  into  the  Held  uniformed  and  armed  implied  an  intention, 
at  least,  of  killing,  wounding,  or  capturing,  some  of  the  enemy. 
There  was  consequently  no  ground  of  complaint  if  I  was 
myself  killed,  wounded,  or  captured.  If  I  did  not  want  to 
take  these  chances  I  ought  to  stay  at  home.  In  the  same  way, 
I  recognized  the  right  of  our  captors  or  guards  to  take  proper 
precautions  to  prevent  our  escape.  I  never  questioned  for  an 
instant  the  right  of  a  guard  to  fire  upon  those  attempting  to 
escape,  and  to  kill  them.  Had  I  been  posted  over  prisoners  I 
should  have  had  no  compunction  about  shooting  at  those  trying 
to  get  away,  and  consequently  I  could  not  blame  the  Rebels 
for  doing  the  same  thing.  It  was  a  matter  of  soldierly  duty. 

But  not  one  of  the  men  assassinated  by  the  guards  at  Andei- 
sonville  were  trying  to  escape,  nor  could  they  have  got  away 
if  not  arrested  by  a  bullet.  In  a  majority  of  instances  there 
was  not  even  a  trangression  of  a  prison  rule,  and  when  there 
was  such  a  transgression  it  was  a  mere  harmless  inadvertance. 
The  slaying  of  every  man  there  was  a  foul  crime. 

The  most  of  this  was  done  by  very  young  boys  ;  some  of  it  by 
old  men.  The  Twenty-Sixth  Alabama  and  Fifty-Fifth  Georgia, 
had  guarded  us  since  the  opening  of  the  prison,  but  now  they 
were  ordered  to  the  iield,  and  their  places  filled  by  the  Georgia 
"  .Reserves,"  an  organization  of  boys  under,  and  men  over  the 


1918  AlTDESSOimLLE. 

military  age.  As  General  Grant  aptly  phrased  it,  "  They  had 
robbed  the  cradle  and  the  grave,"  in  forming  these  regiments. 
The  boys,  who  had  grown  up  from  children  since  the  war 
began,  could  not  comprehend  that  a  Yankee  was  a  human 
being,  or  that  it  was  any  more  wrongful  to  shoot  one  than  to 
kill  a  mad  dog.  Their  young  imaginations  had  been  inflamed 
with  stories  of  the  total  depravity  of  the  Unionists  until  they 
believed  it  was  a  meritorious  thing  to  seize  every  opportunity 
to  exterminate  them. 

Early  one  morning  I  overheard  a  conversation  between  two 
of  these  youthful  guards :  — 

"  Say,  Bill,  I  heerd  that  you  shot  a  Yank  last  night  1 » 

"  Now,  you  just  bet  I  did.  God !  you  jest  ought  to've  heerd 
him  holler." 

Evidently  the  juvenile  murderer  had  no  more  conception 
that  he  had  committed  crime  than  if  he  had  killed  a  rattlesnake. 

Among  those  who  came  in  about  the  last  of  the  month  were 
two  thousand  men  from  Butler's  command,  lost  in  the  disas 
trous  action  of  May  15,  by  which  Butler  was  "bottled  up "  at 
Bermuda  Hundreds.  At  that  time  the  Eebel  hatred  for  Butler 
verged  on  insanity,  and  they  vented  this  upon  these  men  who 
were  so  luckless  —  in  every  sense  —  as  to  be  in  his  command. 
Every  pains  was  taken  to  mistreat  them.  Stripped  of  every 
article  of  clothing,  equipment,  and  cooking  utensils  —  every 
thing,  except  a  shirt  and  a  pair  of  pantaloons,  they  were 
turned  bareheaded  and  barefooted  into  the  prison,  and  the 
worst  possible  place  in  the  pen  hunted  out  to  locate  them  upon. 
This  was  under  the  bank,  at  the  edge  of  the  Swamp  and  at  the 
eastern  side  of  the  prison,  where  the  sinks  were,  and  all  filth 
from  the  upper  part  of  the  camp  flowed  down  to  them.  The 
sand  upon  which  they  lay  was  dry  and  burning  as  that  of  a 
tropical  desert ;  they  were  without  the  slightest  shelter  of  any 
kind,  the  maggot  flies  swarmed  over  them,  and  the  stench  was 
frightful.  If  one  of  them  survived  the  germ  theory  of  disease 
is -a  hallucination. 

The  increasing  number  of  prisoners  made  it  necessary  for 
the  Rebels  to  improve  their  means  of  guarding  and  holding  us 
in  check.  They  threw  up  a  n'ne  of  rifle  pits  abound  the  Stock 
ade  for  liie  iulLunry  guards.  At  ioterealfi  along  this  were  pile* 


J.  STOBT  OF  SEBZL  MTLTTfiBT  PB38OHB,  103 

of  hand  grenades,  which  'could  be  used  with  fearful  effect  in 
case  of  an  outbreak.  A  strong  star  fort  was  thrown  up  at  a 
little  distance  from  the  southwest  corner.  Eleven  field  pieces 
w-ere  mounted  in  this  in  such  a  way  as  to  rake  the  Stockade 
diagonally,  A  smaller  fort,  mounting  five  guns,  was  built  at 
tbe  northwest  corner,  and  at  the  northeast  and  southeast 
corners  were  small  lunettes,  with  a  couple  of  howitzers  each. 
Packed  as  we  were  we  had  reason  to  dread  a  single  round  from 
aaiy  of  these  works,  which  could  not  fail  to  produce  fearful 
havoc. 

Still  a  plot  was  concocted  for  a  break,  and  it  seemed  to  the 
sanguine  portions  of  us  that  it  must  prove  successful.  First  a 
secret  society  was  organized,  bound  by  the  most  stringent  oaths 
that  could  be  devised.  The  members  of  this  were  divided  into 
companies  of  fifty  men  each,  under  officers  regularly  elected. 
The  secresy  was  assumed  in  order  to  shut  out  Rebel  spies  and 
the  traitors  from  a  knowledge  of  the  contemplated  outbreak. 
A  man  named  Baker  —  belonging,  I  think,  to  some  Kew  York 
regiment  —  was  the  grand  organizer  of  the  scheme.  We  were 
careful  in  each  of  our  companies  to  admit  none  to  membership 
except  such  as  long  acquaintance  gave  us  entire  confidence  in. 

The  plan  was  to  dig  large  tunnels  to  the  Stockade  at  various 
places,  and  then  hollow  out  the  ground  at  the  foot  of  the  tim 
bers,  so  that  a  half  dozen  or  so  could  be  pushed  over  with  a 
little  effort,  and  make  a  gap  ten  or  twelve  feet  wide.  Ail  these 
were  to  be  thrown  down  at  a  preconcerted  signal,  the  companies 
were  to  rush  out  and  seize  the  eleven  guns  of  the  headquarters 
fort.  The  Plymouth  Brigade  was  then  to  man  these  and  turn  them 
on  the  camp  of  the  Eeserves  who,  it  was  imagined,  would  drop 
their  arms  and  take  to  their  heels  after  receiving  a  round  or  so 
of  shell.  We  would  gather  what  arias  we  could,  and  place 
them  in  the  hands  of  the  most  active  and  determined.  This 
would  give  us  from  eight  to  ten  thousand  fairly  armed,  resolute 
men,  with  which  we  thought;  we  could  march  to  Appalachicola 
Bay.  or  to  Sherman. 

We  worked  energetical! v  at  our  tunnels,  which  soon  began 
to  assume  such  shape  as  to  give  assurance  that  they  would 
answer  our  expectations  in  opening  the  prison  walls. 

Then  came  the  u^ual  blight  to  ail  such  enterprises  :  a  spy  or 


194  AltDERSONVTLLB. 

a  traitor  revealed  everythii>g  to  Wirz.  One  day  a  guard  came 
in,  seized  Baker  and  took  him  out.  What  was  done  with  him 
I  know  not ;  we  never  heard  of  him  after  he  passed  the  inner 
gate. 

Immediately  afterward  all  the  Sergeants  of  detachments 
were  summoned  outside.  There  they  met  Wirz,  who  made  a 
speech  informing  them  that  he  knew  all  the  details  of  the  plot, 
and  had  made  sufficient  preparations  to  defeat  it.  The  guard 
had  been  strongly  reinforced,  and  disposed  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  protect  the  guns  from  capture.  The  Stockade  had  been 
secured  to  prevent  its  falling,  even  if  undermined.  lie  said,  in 
addition,  that  Sherman  had  been  badly  defeated  by  Johnston, 
and  driven  back  across  the  river,  so  that  any  hopes  of  co-oper 
ation  by  him  would  be  ill-founded. 

When  the  Sergeants  returned,  he  caused  the  following  notice 
to  be  posted  on  the  gates  : 

NOTICE. 

Not  wishing  to  shad  the  blood  of  hundreds,  not  connected  with  those  who  concocted  a  mad 
plan  to  force  the  Stockade,  and  make  in  this  way  their  escape,  I  hereby  warn  the  lenders  and 
those  who  formed  themselves  into  a  band  to  carry  out  this,  that  I  am  in  possession  of  all  the 
facts,  and  hare  made  my  dispositions  accordingly,  BO  as  to  frnetrate  it.  No  choice  wouJd  be 
left  me  but  to  open  with  grape  and  canister  on  the  Stockade,  and  what  effect  this  would  have, 
in  this  densely  crowded  place,  need  not  be  told. 

May  25, 1864.  H.Wiiiz. 

The  next  day  a  line  of  tall  poles,  bearing  white  flags,  were 
put  up  at  some  little  distance  from  the  Dead  Line,  and  a  notice 
was  read  to  us  at  roll  call  that  if,  except  at  roll  call,  any  gath 
ering  exceeding  one  hundred  was  observed,  closer  the  Stockade 
than  these  poles,  the  guns  would  open  with  grape  and  canister 
without  warning. 

The  number  of  deaths  in  the  Stockade  in  May  was  seven 
hundred  and  eight,  about  as  many  as  had  been  killed  in 
Sherman's  army  during  the  same  time. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

• 

«*UJ«JS POSSTBTLTmSS     OF     A    MTTRBKROTT8     OA1WOFADE WHAT   "WAS 

PKOPOflED     TO     BE     DO»E     IS     THAT     EVENT A    FALSE   ALABM 

PgrKRTOBATIOJf       Of       THX       RATIONS rZAJCFUL       DfCBSABB      OF 

MOSXAUTT. 

After  Win's  threat  of  grape  and  canister  upon  tho  slightest 
provocation,  we  Hved  in  daily  apprehension  of  some  pretext 
being  found  for  opening  the  guns  upon  us  for  a  general  mas 
sacre.  Bitter  experience  had  long  since  taught  us  that  the 
Rebels  rarely  threatened  in  vain.  Wirz,  especially,  was  much 
more  likely  to  kill  without  warning,  than  to  warn  without  kill 
ing.  This  was  because  of  the  essential  weakness  of  his  nature. 
He  knew  no  art  of  government,  no  method  of  discipline  save 
rt  kill  them ! "  His  petty  little  mind's  scope  reached  no  Ikrther, 
He  could  conceive  of  no  other  way  of  managing  men  than  the 
punishment  of  every  offense,  or  seeming  offense,  with  death- 
Men  wh«>  have  any  talent  for  governing  find  Httle  occasion  for 
the  death  penalty.  The  stronger  they  are  in  themselves  —  the 
more  fittea  for  controlling  others  —  the  less  their  atjed  of  enforc 
ing  their  authority  by  harsh  measures. 

There  was  a  general  expression  of  determination  amon^  the 
prisoners  to  answer  any  cannonade  with  a  desperate  attempt  to 
force  the  Stockade.  It  was  agreed  that  anything  was  better 
than  dying  like  rats  in  a  pit  or  wild  animals  in  a  battue.  It 
was  believed  that  if  anvthing  would  occur  which  would  rouse 

J  o 

half  those  in  the  pen  to  make  a  headlong  effort  in  concert,  the 
palisade  could  be  scaled,  and  the  gates  carried,  and,  though  it 
would  be  at  a  fearful  loss  of  life,  the  majority  of  those  making 


AHDERSONVILLE. 

the  attempt  would  get  out  If  the  Rebels  would  discharge 
grape  and  canister,  or  throw  a  shell  into  the  prison,  it  would 
lash  everybody  to  such  a  pitch  that  they  would  see  that  the 
sole  forlorn  hope  of  safety  lay  in  wresting  the  arms  away  from 
our  tormentors.  The  great  element  in  our  favor  was  the  short 
ness  of  the  distance  between  us  and  the  cannon.  We  could 
hope  to  traverse  this  before  the  guns  could  be  reloaded  more 
than  once. 

Whether  it  would  have  been  possible  to  succeed  I  am  unabk 
to  say.  It  would  have  depended  wholly  upon  the  spirit  and 
unanimity  with  which  the  effort  was  made!  Had  ten  thousand 
rusted  forward  at  once,  each  with  a  determination  to  do  or  die, 
I  think  it  would  have  been  successful  without  a  loss  of  a  tenth 
of  the  number.  But  the  insuperable  trouble  —  in  our  disorgan 
ized  state  —  was  want  of  concert  of  action.  I  am  quite  sure, 
however,  that  the  attempt  would  have  been  made  had  the  guns 
opened. 

One  day,  white  the  agitation  of  this  matter  was  feverish,  I 
was  coolsng  my  dinner  —  that  is,  boiling  my  pitiful  little  ration 
of  ansalted  meal,  in  my  fruit  can,  with  the  aid  of  a  handful  of 
spliaters  that  I  had  been  able  to  pick  up  by  a  half  day's  dili 
gent  search.  Suddenly  the  long  rifle  in  the  headquarters  fort 
rang  o«t  angrily.  A  fuse  shell  shrieked  across  the  prison  — 
etoee  to  the  tops  of  the  logs,  and  burst  in  the  woods  beyond. 
It  was  answered  with  a  yell  of  defiance  from  ten  thousand 
throats. 

I  sprang  up  —  my  heart  in  my  mouth.  The  long  dreaded 
time  had  arrived ;  the  Rebels  had  opened  the  massacre  in  which 
they  mwst  exterminate  us,  or  we  them. 

I  looked  across  to  the  opposite  bank,  on  which  were  standing 
twelve  thousand  men  —  erect,  excited,  defiant.  I  was  sure  that 
at  the  next  shot  they  would  surge  straight  against  the  Stockade 
like  a  ixtigh'ty  human  billow,  and  then  a  carnage  would  begin 
the  like  of  which  modern  times  had  never  seen. 

The  excitement  and  suspense  were  terrible.  We  waited  for 
what  seemed  ages  for  the  next  gun.  It  was  not  fired.  Old 
Winder  was  merely  showing  the  prisoners  how  he  could  rally 
the  guards  to  oppose  an  outbreak.  Though  the  gun  had  a  shell 
in  it,  it  was  merely  a  signal,,  and  the  guards  caaie  double-quick 


A  STOBT  OF  REBEL  MILITARY  PKiSoNS.  197 

ing  up  by  regiments,  going  into  position  in  the  rifle  pits  and  by 
the  hand-grenade  piles. 

As  we  realized  what  the  whole  affair  meant,  we  relieved  our 
surcharged  feelings  with  a  few  general  yells  of  execration  upon 
Rebels  generally,  and  upon  those  around  us  particularly,  and 
resumed  our  occupation  of  cooking  rations,  killing  lice,  and  dis 
cussing  the  prospects  of  exchange  and  escape. 

The  rations,  like  everything  else  about  us,  had  steadily  grown 
worse.  A  bakery  was  built  outside  of  the  Stockade  in  May, 
and  our  meal  was  baked  there  into  loaves  about  the  size  of  a 
brick.  Each  of  us  got  a  half  of  one  of  these  for  a  day's  ration. 
This,  and  occasionally  a  small  slice  of  salt  pork,  was  all  that  we 
received.  I  wish  the  reader  would  prepare  himself  an  object 
lesson  as  to  how  little  life  can  be  supported  on  for  any  length 
of  time,  by  procuring  a  piece  of  corn  bread  the  size  of  an  ordi 
nary  brickbat,  and  a  thin  slice  of  pork,  and  then  imagine  how 
he  would  fare,  with  that  as  his  sole  daily  ration,  for  long; 
hungry  weeks  and  months.  Dio  Lewis  satisfied  himself  that 
he  could  sustain  life  on  sixty  cents  a  week.  I  am  sure  that  the 
food  furnished  us  by  the  Rebels  would  not,  at  present  prices, 
cost  one-third  that.  They  pretended  to  give  us  one-third  of  a 
pound  of  bacon  and  one  and  one-fourth  pounds  of  corn  meal 
A  week's  rations  then  would  be  two  and  one-third  pounds  of 
7;acon — worth  ten  cents,  and  eight  and  three-fourths  pounds 
of  meal,  worth,  say,  ten  cents  more.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  do 
not  presume  that  at  any  time  we  got  this  full  ration.  It  wouM 
surprise  me  to  learn  that  we  averaged  two-thirds  of  it. 

The  meal  was  ground  very  coarse  and  produced  great  irrita 
tion  in  the  bowels.  We  used  to  have  the  most  frightful  cramps 
that  men  ever  suffered  from.  Those  who  were  predisposed  to 
intestinal  affections  were  speedily  carried  olf  by  incurable 
diarrhea  and  dysentery.  Of  the  twelve  thousand  and  twelve 
men  who  died,  four  thousand  died  of  chronic  diarrhea ;  eight 
hundred  and  ^venteen  died  of  acute  diarrhea,  and  one  thousand 
three  hundred  and  eighty-four  died  of  dysenteria,  making  a 
total  of  six  thousand  two  nundred  and  one  victims  to  enterio 
disorders. 

Let  the  reader  reflect  a  moment  upon  this  number,  till  he 
comprehends  fully  how  many  six  thousand  two  hundred  and  one 


193  JJTDXBBOVTILLB. 

men  are,  and  how  much  force,  energy,  training,  and  rich  possi 
bilities  for  the  good  of  the  community  and  country  died  with 
those  six  thousand  two  hundred  and  one  young,  active  men. 
It  may  help  his  perception  of  the  magnitude  of  this  number  to 
remember  that  the  total  loss  of  the  British,  during  the  Crimean 
war,  by  death  in  all  shapes,  was  four  thousand  five  hundred  and 
ninety-five,  or  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  six  less  than 
the  deaths  in  Andersonville  from  dysenteric  diseases  alone. 

The  loathsome  maggot  flies  swarmed  about  the  bakery,  and 
dropped  into  the  trough  where  the  dough  was  being  mixed,  so 
that  it  was  rare  to  get  a  ration  of  bread  not  contaminated  with 
a  few  of  them. 

It  was  not  long  until  the  bakery  became  inadequate  to  sup 
ply  bread  for  all  the  prisoners.  Then  great  iron  kettles  were 
set,  and  mush  was  issued  to  a  number  of  detachments,  instead 
of  bread.  There  was  not  so  much  cleanliness  and  care  in  pre 
paring  this  as  a  farmer  shows  in  cooking  food  for  stock.  A 
deep  wagon-bed  would  be  shoveled  full  of  the  smoking  paste, 
which  was  then  hauled  inside-  and  issued  out  to  the  detachments, 
the  latter  receiving  it  on  blankets,  pieces  of  shelter  tents,  or, 
lacking  even  these,  upon  the  bare  sand. 

As  still  more  prisoners  came  in,  neither  bread  nor  mush  could 
be  furnished  them,  and  a  part  of  the  detachments  received 
their  rations  in  meal.  Earnest  solicitation  at  length  resulted  in 
having  occasional  scanty  issues  of  wood  to  cook  this  with.  My 
detachment  was  allowed  to  choose  which  it  would  take  —  bread, 
mush  or  meal.  It  took  the  latter. 

Cooking  the  meal  was  the  topic  of  daily  interest.  There 
were  three  ways  of  doing  it :  Bread,  mush  and  "  dumplings." 
In  the  latter  the  meal  was  dampened  until  it  would  hold 
together,  and  was  rolled  into  little  balls,  the  size  of  marbles,  which 
were  then  boiled.  The  bread  was  the  most  satisfactory  and 
nourishing ;  the  mush  the  bulkiest  —  it  made  a  bigger  show, 
but  did  not  stay  with  one  so  long.  The  dumplings  held  an 
intermediate  position  —  the  water  in  which  they  were  boiled 
becoming  a  sort  of  a  broth  that  helped  to  stay  the  stomach. 
We  received  no  salt,  as  a  rule.  No  one  knows  the  intense 
longing  for  this,  when  one  goes  without  it  for  a  while.  When, 
after  a  privation  of  weeks  we  would  get  a  teaspoon! ul  of  salt 


A  STORY  OF  REBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS.  199 

apiece,  it  seemed  as  if  every  muscle  in  our  bodies  was  invigor 
ated.  AVe  traded  buttons  to  the  guards  for  red  peppers, 
and  made  our  mush,  or  bread,  or  dumplings,  hot  with  the  fiery 
pods,  in  hopes  that  this  would  make  up  for  the  lack  of  salt,  but  it 

was  a  failure.  One  pinch  of  salt 
was  rc-orth  all  the  pepper  pods  in 
tne  Southern  Confederacy.  My 
tittle  scluiul  —  now  diminished  by 
death  from  five  to  three  —  cooked 
our  rati°ns  together  to  economize 
wood  and  waste  of  meal,  and 
quarreled  among  ourselves  daily  as 
S-^  to  whether  the  joint  stock  should 
be  convened  into  bread,  mush  or 
dumplings.  The  decision  depended 
apon  the  state  of  the  stomach.  If  very  hungry,  we  made 
mush  ;  if  less  famished,  dumplings  ;  if  disposed  to  weigh  matters, 
bread. 

This  may  seem  a  trifling  matter,  but  it  was  far  from  it.  "We 
all  remember  the  man  who  was  verv  fond  of  white  beans,  but 
after  having  fifty  or  sixty  meals  of  them  in  succession,  began  to 
find  a  suspicion  of  monotony  in  the  provender.  We  had  now 
six  months  of  unvarying  diet  of  corn  meal  and  water,  and 
even  so  slight  a  change  as  a  variation  in  the  way  of  combining 
the  two  was  an  agreeable  novelty. 

At  the  end  of  June  there  were  twenty-six  thousand  three 
hundred  and  sixty-seven  prisoners  in  the  Stockade,  and  one 
thousand  two  hundred  —  just  forty  per  day  —  had  died  during 
the  month. 


CHAPTEK  XXXI 

DYING    BY   INCHES  —  BETTZ,  THE    BLOW,    AND   HIS    DEATH — STIQQALL 
AND   EMERSON  —  RAVAGES   OF   THE    8CUKVY. 

May  and  June  made  sad  havoc  in  the  already  thin  ranks  of 
our  battalion.  Nearly  a  score  died  in  my  company  —  L  —  and 
the  other  companies  suffered  proportionately.  Among  the  first 
to  die  of  my  company  comrades,  was  a  genial  little  Corporal, 
*  Billy  "  Phillips  - —  who  was  a  favorite  with  us  all.  Everything 
was  done  for  him  that  kindness  could  suggest,  but  it  was  of 
little  avail.  Then,"  Bruno  "  Weeks  —  a  young  boy,  the  son  of 
a  preacher,  who  had  rim  away  from  his  home  in  Fulton  County, 
Ohio,  to  join  us,  succumbed  to  hardship  and  privation. 

The  next  to  go  was  .good-natured,  harmless  Victor  Seitz,  a 
Detroit  cigar  maker,  a  German,  and  one  of  the  slowest  of 
created  mortals.  How  he  ever  came  to  go  into  the  cavalry 
was  beyond  the  wildest  surmises  of  his  comrades.  "Why  his 
supernatural  slowness  and  clumsiness  did  not  result  in  his  being 
killed  at  least  once  a  day,  while  in  the  service,  was  even  still 
farther  beyond  the  power  of  conjecture.  Xo  accident  ever 
happened  in  the  company  that  Seitz  did  not  have  some  share 
in.  Did  a  horse  fall  on  a  slippery  road,  it  was  almost  sure  to 
be  Seitz's,  and  that  imported  son  of  the  Fatherland  was  equally 
sure  to  be  caught  under  him.  Did  somebody  tumble  over  a  bank 
of  a  dark  night,  it  was  Seitz  that  we  soon  heard  making  his  way 
back,  swearing  in  deep  German  gutterals,  with  frequent  allu 
sion  to  tausend  teufeln.  Did  a  shanty  blow  down,  we  ran  over 
and  pulled  Seitz  out  of  the  debris,  when  he  would  exclaim  : 

*  Zo  1  dot  vos  pretty  vunny  now,  ain't  it  I  " 

as  h«  surveyed  the  scene  of  his  trouble  with  true  GOT- 


A  BTOEY  Of  BEBEL  MZLITABY  PEISON3, 


201 


man  phlegm,  he  would  fish  a  brier-wood  pipe  from  the  recesses 
of  his  pockets,  fill  it  with  tobacco,  and  go  plodding  off  in  a 
cloud  of  smoke  in  search  of  some  fresh  way  to  narrowly  escape 
destruction,  He  did  not  know  enough  about  horses  to  put  a 


BETTZ    ON    HORSEBACK. 

snaffle-bit  in  one's  mouth,  and  yet  he  would  draw  the  friskiest, 
most  mettlesome  animal  in  the  corral,  upon  whose  back  he  was 
scarcely  more  at  home  than  he  would  be  upon  a  slack  rope. 
It  was  no  uncommon  thing  to  see  a  horse  break  out  of  ranks, 
and  go  past  the  battalion  like  the  wind,  with  poor  Seitz  cling 
ing  to  his  mane  like  the  traditional  grim  Death  to  a  deceased 
African.  We  then  knew  that  Seitz  had  thoughtlessly  sunk  the 
keen  spurs  he  would  persist  in  wearing,  deep  into  the  flanks  of 
his  high-mettled  animal. 

These  accidents  became  so  much  a  matter-of-course  that 
when  anything  unusual  occurred  in  the  company  our  first  im 
pulse  was  to  go  and  help  Seitz  out. 

When  the  bugle  sounded  u  boots  and  saddles,"  the  rest  of  us 
would  pack  up,  mc*int,  "  count  off  by  fours  from  the  righ  V 
and  be  ready  to  moya  ^uf  6e£ ore  '*he  las;  Bx>tes  of  tto  caU  &ad 


'202  A1TDEESONVTLLE.. 

fairly  died  away.     Just  then  we  would  notice  an  unsaddled 
horse  still  tied  to  the  hitching  place.     It  was  Seitz's,  and  that 
worthy  would  be  seen  approaching,  pipe  in  mouth,  and  bridle 
in  hand,  with  calm,  equable  steps,  as  if  any  time  before  the 
expiration  of  his  enlistment  would  be  soon  enough  to  accom 
plish  the  saddling  of  his  steed.     A  chorus  of  impatient  and 
derisive  remarks  would  go  up  from  his  impatient  comrades : 
"  For  heaven's  sake,  Seitz,  hurry  up !  " 
"  Seitz !  you  are  like  a  cow's  tail  —  always  behind  1 " 
"  Seitz,  you  are  slower  than    the  second    coming  of  the 
Savior!" 

"  Christmas  is  a  railroad  train  alongside  of  you,  Seitz  1 " 
"  If  you  ain't  on  that  horse  in  half  a  second,  Seitz,  we'll  go 
off  and  leave  you,  and  the  Johnnies  will  skin  you  alive ! " 
etc.,  etc. 

Kot  a  ripple  of  emotion  would  roll  over  Seitz's  placid  features 
under  the  sharpest  of  these  objurgations.  At  last,  losing  all 
patience,  two  or  three  boys  would  dismount,  run  to  Seitz's 
norse,  pack,  saddle  and  bridle  him,  as  if  he  were  struck  with  a 
whirlwind.  Then  Seitz  would  mount,  and  we  would  move 
off. 

For  all  this,  we  liked  him.  His  good  nature  was  boundless, 
and  his  disposition  to  oblige  equal  to  the  severest  test.  He  did 
not  lack  a  grain  of  his  full  share  of  the  calm,  steadfast  courage 
of  his  race,  and  would  stay  where  he  was  put,  though  Erebus 
yawned  and  bade  him  fly.  He  was  very  useful,  despite  his  un- 
fitness  for  many  of  the  duties  of  a  cavalryman.  He  was  a  good 
guard,  and  always  ready  to  take  charge  of  prisoners,  or  be 
sentry  around  wagons  or  a  forage  pile  —  duties  that  most  of  the 
boys  cordially  hated. 

But  he  came  into  the  last  trouble  at  Andersonville.  He 
stood  up  pretty  well  under  the  hardships  of  Belle  Isle,  but  lost 
his  cheerfulness  —  his  unrepining  calmness  —  after  a  few  weeks 
in  the  Stockade.  One  day  we  remembered  that  none  of  us 
had  seen  him  for  several  days,  and  we  started  in  search  of  him, 
We  found  him  in  a  distant  part  of  the  camp,  lying  near  the 
Dead  Line.  His  long  fair  hair  was  matted  together,  his  blue 
eyes  had  the  flush  of  fever.  Every  part  of  his  clothing  was 
gray  with  the  lice  that  were  hastening  his  death  with  their 


A  STORY  OF  BEBEL  MTLTTAET  PRISONS. 


203 


torments.     He  uttered  the  first  complaint   I  ever  heard  him 

make,  as  I  came  up  to  him  :  — 

k'  My  Gott,  A[ ,  dis  is  worse  dan  a  dog's  det ! " 

In  a  few  days  we  gave  him  all  the  funeral  in  our  power; 


FINDING    SEITZ    DEAD. 

tied  his  big  toes  together,  folded  his  hands  across  his  breast, 
pinned  to  his  shirt  a  slip  of  paper,  upon  which  was  written  — 

VICTOR  E.  SEITZ, 
Co.  L,  Sixteenth  Uliaois  Cavalry. 

And  laid  his  body  at  the  South  Gate,  beside  some  scores  of 
others  that  were  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  six-mule  wagon 
that  hauled  them  to  the  Potters  Field,  which  was  to  be  their 
last  resting  place. 

John  Emerson  and  John  Stiggall.  of  my  company,  were 
two  Norwegian  boys,  and  fine  specimens  of  their  race  —  intel 
ligent,  faithful,  and  always  ready  for  duty.  They  had  an 
aJt'ection  for  each  other  that  reminded  one  of '  the  stories  told 


204  ANDEE9OITTILLI. 

of  the  sworn  attach menlf and  the  unfailing  devotion  that  were 
common  between  two  Gothic  warrior  youths.  Coming  into 
Andersonville  some  little  time  after  the  rest  of  us,  they  found 
all  the  desirable  ground  taken  up,  and  they  established  their 
quarters  at  the  base  of  the  hill,  near  the  Swamp.  There  they 
dug  a  little  hole  to  lie  in,  and  put  in  a  layer  of  pine  leaves. 
Between  them  they  had  an  overcoat  and  a  blanket.  At  night 
they  lay  upon  the  coat  and  covered  themselves  with  the  blanket. 
By  day  the  blanket  served  as  a  tent.  The  hardships  and 
aanoyances  that  we  endured  made  everybody  else  cross  and 
irritable.  At  times  it  seemed  impossible  to  say  or  listen  to 
pleasant  words,  and  nobody  was  ever  allowed  to  go  any  length 
of  time  spoiling  for  a  fight.  He  could  usually  be  accommo 
dated  upon  the  spot  to  any  extent  he  desired,  by  simply  making 
his  wishes  known.  Even  the  best  of  chums  would  have  sharp 
quarrels  and  brisk  fights,  aad  this  disposition  increased  as  dis 
ease  made  greater  inroads  upon  them,  I  saw  in  one  instance 
two  brothers  —  both  of  whom  died  the  next,  day  of  scurvy — 
and  who  were  so  helpless  as  to  be  unable  to  rise,  pull  themselves 
up  on  their  knees  by  clenching  the  poles  of  their  tents  —  in 
order  to  strike  each'  other  with  clubs,  and  they  kept  striking 
until  the  bystanders  interfered  a&d  took  their  weapons  away 
from  them. 

But  Stiggall  and  Emerson  never  quarreled  with  each  other. 
Their  tenderness  and  affection  were  remarkable  to  wit 
ness.  They  began  to  go  the  way  that  so  many  were 
going ;  diarrhea  aad  scurvy  set  in ;  they  wasted  away  till  their 
muscles  and  tissues  almost  disappeared,  leaving  the  skin  lying 
flat  upon  the  bones  ;  but  their  principal  solicitude  was  for  each 
other,  and  each  seemed  actually  jealous  of  any  person  else  doing 
anything  fojr  the  other.  I  met  Emerson  one  day,  with  one  leg 
drawn  clear  out  of  shape,  and  rendered  almost  useless  by  the 
scurvy.  He  was  very  weak,  but  was  hobbling  down  towards 
the  Creek  with  a  bracket  made  from  a  boot  leg.  I  said  : 

"  Johnny,  just  give  me  your  bucket.  1*11  fill  it  for  you,  and 
bring  it  up  to  your  ten>t" 

"  No ;  much  obliged,  M "  he  wheezed  out ;  "  my  pardner 

wants  a  cool  drink,  and  I  guess  Pd  better  get  it  for  him/' 

Stiggall  died  io  June.     lie  was  one  of  the  first  victims  of 


A  STOET  OT  REBEL  MTLTTAET  PRISONB. 


205 


scurvy,  which,  in  the  succeeding  few  weeks,  carrted  off  so 
many.  All  of  us  who  had  read  sea  stories  had  read  much  of 

this  disease  and  its  horrors,  but  we  had  little  conception  of  the 
dreadful  reality.  It  usually  manifested  itself  first  in  the  mouth. 
The  breath  became  unbearably  fetid ;  the  gums  swelled  until 
they  protruded,  livid  and  disgusting,  beyond  the  lips.  The 

teeth  became  so  loose  that 
they  frequently  fefl  out, 
and  the  sufferer  would 
pick  them  up  and  set  them 
back  in  their  sockets.  In 
attempting  to  bite  the 
hard  corn  bread  furnished 
by  the  bakery  the  teeth 
often  stuck  fast  and  were 
pulled  out.  The  gums  had 
a  fashion  of  breaking 
away  in  large  chunks, 
which  would  be  swallowed 
or  spit  out.  All  the  time 
one  was  eating  his  mouth 
woukTbe  filled  with  blood,  fragments  of  gums  and  loosened  teeth. 
Frightful,  malignant  ulcers  appeared  in  other  parts  of  th« 
body ;  the  erer-present  maggot  flies  laid  eggs  in  these,  and  soon 
worms  swarmed  therein.  The  sufferer  looked  and  felt  as  if, 
though  he  yet  lived  and  moved,  his  body  was  anticipating  the 
rotting  it  would  undergo  a  little  later  in  the  grave. 

The  last  change  was  ushered  in  by  the  lower  parts  of  the 
legs  swelling.  When  this  appeared,  we  considered  the  man 
doomed.  We  all  had  scurvy,  more  or  less,  but  as  long  as  it 
kept  out  of  our  legs  we  were  hopeful  First,  the  ankle  joints 
swelled,  then  the  foot  became  useless.  The  swelling  increased 
until  the  knees  became  stiff,  and  the  skin  from  these  down  was 
distended  until  it  looked  pale,  colorless  and  transparent  as  a 
tightly  blown  bladder.  The  leg  was  so  much  larger  at  the  bot 
tom  than  at  the  thigh,  that  the  sutferers  used  to  make  grim 
jokes  about  being  modeled  like  a  churn,  "  with  the  biggest  end 
down."  The  man  then  became  utterly  helpless  and  usually 
died  in  a  short  time. 


A   CAM   OT  BC'DHTf. 


AJTDEESOK  VLLLS. 

« 

The  official  report  puts  down  the  number  of  deaths  from 
scurvy  at  three  thousand  five  hundred  and  seventy-four,  but 
Dr.  Jones,  the  Rebel  surgeon,  reported  to  the  Rebel  Govern 
ment  his  belief  that  nine-tenths  of  the  great  mortality  of  the 
prison  was  due,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  to  this  cause. 

The  only  effort  made  by  the  Rebel  doctors  to  check  its  rav 
ages  was  occasionally  to  give  a  handful  of  sumach  berries  to 
gome  particularly  bad  case. 

When  Stiggai  died  we  thought  Emerson  wo«H  certainly 
follow  him  in  a  day  or  two,  but,  to  our  surprise,  he  lingered 
along  until  August  before  dying. 


CHAPTER  XXXIL 

"OLE  BOO,"  AND  "OLE  SOL,  THE  HAYMAKER" — A  FETID,  BURN 
ING  DESEBT — NOISOME  WATEK,  AND  THE  EFFECTS  OF  DRINKING 
IT 6TEALLNG  SOFT  SOAP. 

The  gradually  lengthening  Summer  days  were  insufferably 
long  and  wearisome.  Each  was  hotter,  longer  and  more  tedi 
ous  than  its  predecessors.  In  my  company  was  a  none-too-bright 
fellow,  named  Dawson.  During  the  chilly  rains  or  the  nipping 
winds  of  our  first  days  in  prison,  Dawson  would,  as  he  rose  in 
the  morning,  survey  the  forbidding  skies  with  lack-luster  eyes 
and  remark,  oracularly  : 

"  Well,  Ole  Boo  gits  us  agin,  to-day." 

He  was  so  unvarying  in  this  salutation  to  the  morn  that  his 
designation  of  disagreeable  weather  as  "  Ole  Boo "  became 
generally  adopted  by  us.  When  the  hot  weather  came  on, 
Dawson's  remark,  upon  rising  and  seeing  excellent  prospects 
for  a  scorcher,  changed  to  :  "Well,  Oie  Sol,  the  Haymaker, 
is  going  to  git  in  his  work  on  us  agin  to-day." 

As  long  as  he  lived  and  was  able  to  talk,  this  was  Dawson's 
invariable  observation  at  the  break  of  day. 

He  was  quite  right.  The  Ole  Haymaker  would  do  some 
famous  work  before  he  descended  in  the  West,  sending  his  level 
rays  through  the  wide  interstices  between  the  somber  pines. 

By  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  his  beams  would  begin  to 
fairly  singe  everything  in  the  crowded  pen.  The  hot  sand 
would  glow  as  one  sees  it  in  the  center  of  the  unshaded  high 
way  some  scorching  noon  in  August.  The  high  walls  of  the 
prison  prevented  the  circulation  inside  of  any  breeze  that 
might  be  in  m^ioa,  while  the  foul  stench  rising  ikoia  iho 


£08  JJffDEBSOKYILLE. 

putrid  Swamp  and  the  rotting  ground  seemed  to  reach  fh* 
skies. 

One  can  readily  comprehend  the  horrors  of  death  on  the 
burning  sands  of  a  desert.  But  the  desert  sand  is  at  least 
clean ;  there  is  nothing  worse  aborat  it  than  heat  and  intense 
dryness.  It  is  not,  as  that  was  at  Andersonville,  poisoned  with 
the  excretions  of  thousands  of  sick  and  dying  men,  filled  with 
disgusting  Yerinin,  and  loading  the  air  with  the  germs  of  death. 
The  difference  is  as  that  between  a  brick-kiln  and  a  sewer. 
Should  the  fates  ever  decide  that  I  shall  be  flung  out  upon 
sands  to  perish,  I  beg  that  the  hottest  place  in  the  Sahara  may 
be  selected,  rather  than  such  a  spot  as  the  interior  of  the  Ander 
sonville  Stockade. 

It  may  be  said  that  we  had  an  abundance  of  water,  which 
made  a  decided  improvement  on  a  desert.  Doubtless  —  had  tfo 
water  beenpwre.  But  every  mouthful  of  it  was  a  blood  poison, 
and  helped  promote  disease  and  death.  Even  before  reaching 
the  Stockade  it  was  so  polluted  by  the  drainage  of  the  Eebel 
camps  as  to  be  utterly  unfit  for  human  use.  In  our  part  of 
the  prison  we  sank  several  wells  —  some  as  deep  as  forty  feet 
—  to  procure  water.  We  had  no  other  tools  for  this  than  our 
ever-faithful  half  canteens,  and  nothing  wherewith  to  wall  the 
wells.  But  a  firm  clay  was  reached  a  few  feet  below  the  sur 
face,  which  afforded  tolerable  strong  sides  for  the  lower  part* 
ana  furnished  material  to  make  adobe  bricks  for  curbs  to  keep 
out  the  sand  of  the  upper  part.  The  sides  were  continually 
giving  away,  however,  and  fello-ivs  were  perpetually  falling 
down  the  holes,  to  the  great  damage  of  their  legs  and  arms. 
The  water,  which  was  drawn  up  in  little  cans,  or  boot  leg  buck 
ets,  by  strings  made  of  strips  of  cloth,  was  much  better  than, 
that  of  the  creek,  but  was  still  far  from  pure,  as  it  contained 
the  seepage  from  the  filthy  ground. 

The  intense  heat  led  men  to  drink  great  quantities  of  water, 
and  this  superinduced  malignant  dropsical  complaints,  which, 
next  to  diarrhea,  scurvy  and  gangrene,  were  the  ailments  most 
active  in  carrying  men  off.  Those  affected  in  this  way  swelled 
up  frightfully  from  day  to  day.  Their  clothes  speedily  became 
too  small  for  them,  and  were  ripped  off,  leaving  them  entirely 
naked,  and  they  suffered  intensely  until  death  at  last  came  to 


A  BTOET  OF  REBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS.  209 

their  relief.  Among  those  of  my  squad  who  died  in  this  way, 
was  a  young  man  named  Baxter,  of  the  Fifth  Indiana  Cavalry, 
taken  at  Chicamauga.  H-e  was  very  fine  looking — tall,  slen 
der,  with  regular  features  and  intensely  black  hair  and  eyes ; 
he  sang  nicely,  and  was  generally  liked.  A  more  pitiable 
object  than  he,  when  last  I  saw  him,  just  before  his  death,  can 
not  be  imagined.  His  body  had  swollen  until  it  seemed  mar 
velous  that  the  human  skin  could  bear  so  much  distention  with 
out  disruption.  All  the  old  look  of  bright  intelligence  had 
been  driven  from  his  face  by  the  distortion  of  his  features. 
Ilis  swarthy  hair  and  beard,  grown  long  and  ragged,  had  that 
peculiar  repulsive  look  which  the  black  hair  of  the  sick  is  prone 
to  assume. 

I  attributed  much  of  my  freedom  from  the  diseases  to  which 
others  succumbed  to  abstention  from  water  drinking.  Long 
before  I  entered  the  army,  I  had  constructed  a  theory  —  on 
premises  that  were  doubtless  as  insufficient  as  those  that  boyish 
theories  are  usually  based  upon  —  that  drinking  water  was  a 
habit,  and  a  pernicious  one,  which  sapped  away  the  energy.  I 
took  some  trouble  to  curb  my  appetite  for  water,  and  soon 
found  that  I  got  along  verv  comfortably  without  drinking 
anything  beyond  that  which  was  contained  in  my  food.  I  fol 
lowed  this  up  after  entering  the  army,  drinking  nothing  at  any 
time  but  a  little  coifee,  and  finding  no  need,  even  on  the  dust 
iest  marches,  for  anything  more.  I  do  not  presume  that  in  a 
year  I  drank  a  quart  of  cold  water.  Experience  seemed  to  con 
firm  my  views,  for  I  noticed  that  the  first  to  sink  under  a 
fatigue,  or  to  yield  to  sickness,  were  those  who  were  always  on 
the  lookout  for  drinking  water,  springing  from  their  horses 
and  struggling  around  every  well  or  spring  on  the  line  of 
march  for  an  opportunity  to  fill  their  canteens. 

I  made  liberal  use  of  the  Creek  for  bathing  purposes,  how 
ever,  visiting  it  four  or  five  times  a  day  during  the  hot  days,  to 
wash  myself  all  over.  This  did  not  cool  one  off  much,  for  the 
shallow  stream  was  nearly  as  hot  as  the  sand,  but  it  seemed  to 
do  some  good,  and  it  helped  pass  away  the  tedious  hours.  The 
stream  was  nearly  all  the  time  filled  as  full  of  bathers  as  they 
could  stand,  and  the  water  could  do  little  towards  cleansing  so 
many.  The  occasional  rain  storms  that  swept  across  the  prison 


210  AlTDfiKSCXNTILLE. 

were  welcomed,  not  only  because  they  cooled  the  air  tempor 
arily,  but  because  they  gave  us  a  shower-bath.  As  they  came 
up,  nearly  every  one  stripped  naked  and  got  out  where  he 
could  enjoy  the  full  beneiit  of  the  falling  water.  Fancy,  if 
possible,  the  spectacle  of  twenty-five  thousand  or  thirty  thou 
sand  men  without  a  stitch  of  clothing  upon  them.  The  like 
has  not  been  seen,  I  imagine,  since  the  naked  followers  of 
Boadicea  gathered  in  force  to  do  battle  to  the  Koman  invaders. 

It  was  impossible  to  get  really  clean.  Our  bodies  seemed 
covered  with  a  varnish-like,  gummy  matter  that  defied  removal 
by  water  alone.  I  imagined  that  it  came  from  the  rosin  or 
turpentine,  arising  from  the  little  pitch  pine  fires  over  which 
we  hovered  when  cooking  our  rations.  It  would  yield  to  noth 
ing  except  strong  soap  —  and  soap,  as  I  have  before  stated  — 
was  nearly  as  scarce  in  the  Southern  Confederacy  as  salt.  WQ 
in  prison  saw  even  less  of  it,  or  rather,  none  at  all.  The 
scarcity  of  it,  and  our  desire  for  it,  recalls  a  bit  of  personal 
experience. 

I  had  steadfastly  refused  all  offers  of  positions  outside  the 
prison  on  parole,  as,  like  -the  great  majority  of  the  prisoners, 
my  hatred  of  the  Rebels  grew  more  bitter,  day  by  day  ;  I  felt 
as  if  I  would  rather  die  than  accept  the  smallest  favor  at  their 
hands,  and  I  shared  the  common  contempt  for  those  who  did. 
But,  when  the  movement  for  a  grand  attack  on  the  Stockade 
—  mentioned  in  a  previous  chapter  —  was  apparently  rapidly 
coming  to  a  head,  I  was  offered  a  temporary  detail  outside  to 
assist  in  making  up  some  rolls.  I  resolved  to  accept;  first 
because  I  thought  I  might  get  some  information  tna£  would  be 
of  use  in  our  enterprise  :  and,  next,  because  I  foresaw  that  the 
rush  through  the  gaps  in  the  Stockade  would  be  bloody 
business,  and  by  going  out  in  advance  I  \vould  avoid  that  much 
of  the  danger,  and  still  be  able  to  give  effective  assistance. 

I  was  taken  up  to  Wirz's  office.  He  was  writing  at  a  desk 
at  one  end  of  a  large  room  when  the  Sergeimt  brought  me  in. 
He  turned  around,  told  the  Sergeant  to  leave  me,  and  ordered 
me  to  sit  down  upon  a  box  at  the  other  end  of  the  t^om. 

Turning  his  back  and  resuming  his  writing,  in  a  few  miiitttes 
he  had  forgotten  me.  I  sat  quietly,  taking  in  the  details  for  a 
half -hour,  and  then,  having  exhausted  everything  else  in  the 


A  8TOBY  OT  REBEL  MHJTA3Y  PBIBOBB. 


room,  I  began  wondering  what  was  in  the  box  I  was  sitting 
upon.  The  lid  was  loose  ;  I  hitched  it  forward  a  little  without 
attracting  Wirz's  attention,  and  slipped  my  left  hand  down  oa 
a  voyage  of  discovery.  It  seemed  very  likely  that  there  was 


COJTFTSCATmG    SOFT    SOAP. 

something  there  that  a  loyal  Yankee  deserved  better  than  a 
Rebel.  I  found  that  it  was  a  fine  article  of  soft  soap.  A  handful 
was  scooped  up  and  speedily  shoved  into  my  left  pantaloons 
pocket.  Expecting  every  instant  that  Wirz  would  torn  around 
and  order  me  to  come  to  the  desk  to  show  my  handwriting,  I 
hastily  and  furtively  wiped  my  hand  on  the  back  of  my  shirt 
»nd  watched  Wirz  with  as  innocent  an  expression  as  a  school 
boy  assumes  when  he  has  just  flipped  a  chewed  paper  wad 
across  the  room.  Wirz  was  still  engrossed  in  his  writing,  and 
did  not  look  around.  I  was  emboldened  to  reach  down  for 
another  handful.  This  was  also  successfully  transferred,  the 
hand  wiped  off  on  the  back  of  the  shirt,  and  the  face  wore  its 
expression  of  infantile  ingenuousness.  Still  Wire  did  not  look 
up.  I  kept  dipping  up  handful  after  handful,  until  I  had 
gotten  about  a  quart  in  the  left  hand  pocket  After  each 
handful  I  rubbed  my  hand  off  on  the  back  of  my  shirt  and 
waited  an  instant  for  a  summons  to  the  desk.  Then  the  pro- 
ceas  was  repeated  with  the  other  hand,  and  a  quart  of  tha 
saponaceous  mush  was  packed  in  the  right  h«ufcd 


UlcrXESOBTILLX. 

Shortly  after  Wirz  rose  and  ordered  a  guard  to  take  me  away 
and  keep  me,  until  he  decided  what  to  do  with  me.  The  day 
was  intensely  hot,  and  soon  the  soap  in  my  pockets  and  on  the 
back  of  my  shirt  began  burning  like  double  strength  Spanish 
fly  blisters.  There  was  nothing  to  do  but  grin  and  bear  it.  I 
set  my  teeth,  squatted  down  under  the  shade  of  the  parapet  of 
the  fort,  and  stood  it  silently  and  sullenly.  For  the  first  time 
in  iny  life  I  thoroughly  appreciated  the  story  of  the  Spartan 
boy,  who  stole  the  fox  and  suffered  the  animal  to  tear  hii 
bowels  out  rather  than  gi^e  a  sign  which  would  lead  to  the 
exposure  of  his  theft. 

Between  four  and  five  o'clock — after  I  had  endured  the  thing 
for  five  o*  six  hours,  a  guard  came  with  orders  from  Wirz  that 
I  should  be  returned  to  the  Stockade.  Upon  hastily  removing  my 
clothes,  after  coming  inside,  I  found  I  had  a  blister  on  each 
thigh,  and  one  down  my  back,  that  would  have  delighted  an 
old  practitioner  of  the  heroic  school.  But  I  also  had  a  half 
gallon  of  excellent  soft  soap.  My  chums  and  I  took  a  magnifi 
cent  wash,  and  gave  our  elotkes  the  same,  and  we  still  had  soap 
enough  left  to  barter  for  some  onions  tbat  we  had  long  cov 
eted,  and  which  tasted  as  ts weet  &o  us  as  manna  to  the  Israel- 
itea. 


CIIAPTEK  XXXIII 

<f  POTTR    PA8REE    LE  TEMP8  " A  SET  OF  CHESSMEN  PROCURED  UNDKK 

DIFFICULTIES RELIGIOUS     SEBVICE8 THE      DEVOTED     PBIEST 

WAS    SONG. 

The  time  moved  with  leaden  feet.  Do  the  best  we  could, 
there  were  very  many  tiresome  hours  for  which  no  occupation 
whatever  could  be  found.  All  that  was  necessary  to  be  done 
during  the  day  —  attending  roll  call,  drawing  and  cooking 
rations,  killing  lice  and  washing — could  be  disposed  of  in  an 
hours  time,  and  we  were  left  with  fifteen  or  sixteen  waking 
hours,  for  which  there  was  absolutely  no  employment.  Very 
many  tried  to  escape  both  the  heat  and  ennui  by  sleeping  as 
much  as  possible  through  the  day,  but  I  noticed  that  those  who 
did  this  soon  died,  and  consequently  I  did  not  do  it.  Card 
playing  had  sufficed  to  pass  away  the  hours  at  first,  but  our 
cards  soon  wore  out,  and  deprived  us  of  this  resource.  My 
chum,  Andrews,  and  I  constructed  a  set  of  chessmen  with  an 
infinite  deal  of  trouble.  "We  found  a  soft,  white  root  in  the 
swamp  which  answered  our  purpose.  A  boy  near  us  had  a 
tolerably  sharp  pocket-knife,  for  the  use  of  which  a  couple  of 
hours  each  day,  we  gave  a  few  spoonfuls  of  meal.  The  knife 
was  the  only  one  among  a  large  number  of  prisoners,  as  the 
Rebel  guards  had  an  affection  for  that  style  of  cutlery,  which 
ted  them  to  search  incoming  prisoners  very  closely.  The  fortu 
nate  owner  of  this  derived  quite  a  little  income  of  meal  by 
shrewdly  loaning  it  to  his  knifeless  comrades.  The  shapes 
that  we  made  for  pieces  and  pawns  were  necessarily  very  rude. 


UTDEESONTILLK. 

but  they  were  sufficiently  distinct  for  identification.  TVc 
blackened  one  set  with  pitch  pine  soot,  found  a  piece  of  plank 
that  would  answer  for  a  board  and  purchased  it  from  its  posses 
sor  for  part  of  a  ration  of  meal,  and  so  were  fitted  out  with 
what  served  until  our  release  to  distract  our  attention  from 
much  of  the  surrounding  misery. 

Every  one  else  procured  such  amusement  as  they  could. 
Newcomers,  who  still  had  money  and  cards,  gambled  as  long 
as  their  means  lasted.  Those  who  had  books  read  them  until 
the  leaves  fell  apart.  Those  who  had  paper  and  pen  and  ink 
tried  to  write  descriptions  and  keep  journals,  but  this  was 
usually  given  up  after  being  in  prison  a  few  weeks.  I  was  for 
tunate  enough  to  know  a  boy  who  had  brought  a  copy  of 
"  Gray's  Anatomy "  into  prison  with  him.  I  was  not  spec- 
ially  interested  in  the  subject,  but  it  was  Hobson's  choice ;  I 
could  read  anatomy  or  nothing,  and  so  I  tackled  it  with  such 
good  will  that  before  my  friend  became  sick  and  was  taken 
outside,  and  his  book  with  him,  I  had  obtained  a  very  fair  knowl 
edge  of  the  rudiments  of  physiology. 

There  was  a  little  band  of  devoted  Christian  workers,  among 
whom  were  Orderly  Sergeant  Thomas  J.  Sheppard,  Ninety- 
Seventh  O.  Y.  I.,  now  a  leading  Baptist  minister  in  Eastern 
Ohio ;  Boston  Corbett,  who  afterward  slew  John  Wilkes  Booth, 
and  Frank  Smith,  no -TV  at  the  head  of  the  Railroad  Bethel  work 
at  Toledo.  They  were  indefatigable  in  trying  to  evangelize 
the  prison.  A  few  of  them  would  take  their  station  in  some 
part  of  the  Stockade  (a  different  one  every  time),  and  begin 
singing  some  old  familiar  hymn  like 

**  Come,  Thou  fount  of  OTery  blpsetng," 

and  in  a  few  minutes  they  would  have  an  attentive  audience  ot 
as  many  thousand  as  could  get  within  hearing.  The  singing 
would  be  followed  by  regular  services,  during  which  Sheppard, 
Smith,  Corbett,  and  some  others  would  make  short,  spirited, 
practical  addresses,  which  no  doubt  did  much  good  to  all  who 
heard  them,  though  the  grains  of  leaven  were  entirely  too  small  to 
leaven  such  an  immense  measure  of  meal.  They  conducted 
several  funerals,  as  nearly  like  the  way  it  was  done  at  home  as 
possibla  Their  ministrations  were  not  confined  to  mere  lip 


A  8TOEY  OF  REBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS. 


215 


service,  but  they  labored  assiduously  in  caring1  for  the  sick, 
arid  made  many  a  poor  fellow's  way  to  the  grave  much 
smoother  for  him. 


RELIGIOUS    SERVICES. 

This  was  about  all  the  religious  services  that  we  were  favored 
with.  The  Rebel  preachers  did  not  make  that  effort  to  save 
our  misguided  souls  which  one  would  have  imagined  they 
would.  Having  us  where  we  could  not  choose  but  hear  they 
might  have  taken  advantage  of  our  situation  to  rake  us  fore 
and  aft  with  their  theological  artillery.  They  only  attempted 
it  in  one  instance.  "While  in  Richmond  a  preacher  came  into 
our  room  and  announced  in  an  authoritative  way  that  he  would 
address  us  on  religious  subjects.  T7e  uncovered  respectfully, 
and  gathered  around  him.  lie  was  a  loud-tonguecJ,  brawling 
Boanerges,  who  addressed  the  Lord  as  if  drilling  a  brigade, 
He  spoke  but  a  few  moments  before  making  apparent  his 
belief  that  the  worst  of  crimes  was  that  of  being  a  Yankee,  and 
that  a  man  must  not  only  be  saved  through  Christ's  blood,  but 
also  serve  in  the  Pvebel  army  before  he  could  attain  to  heaven. 


218 


JUfDERSONTTLLE. 


Of  course  we  raised  such  a  yell  of  derision  that  the  sermon 
was  brought  to  an  abrupt  conclusion. 

The  only  minister  who  came  into  the  Stockade  was  a  Cath 
olic  priest,  middle-aged,  tall,  slender,  and  unmistakably  devout. 
lie  was  unwearied  in  his  attention  to  the  sick,  and  the  whole 


THE    PRIEST    ANOINTING   THE    DYING. 

day  couM  be  seen  moving  around  through  the  prison,  attending 
to  those  who  needed  spiritual  consolation.  It  was  interesting 
to  see  bim  administer  the  extreme  unction  to  a  dying  man. 
Placing  a  lon^  purple  scarf  about  his  own  neck  and  a  small 
brazen  crucifix  in  the  hands  of  the  dying  one,  he  would  kneel 
by  the  latter's  side  and  anoint  him  upon  the  eyes,  ears,  nostrils, 
lips,  hands,  feet  and  breast,  with  sacred  oil,  from  a  little  brass 
vessel,  repeating  the  while,  in  an  impressive  voice,  the  solemn 
offices  of  the  Church. 

His  unwearying  devotion  gained  the  admiration  of  all,  no 
matter  how  little  inclined  one  might  be  to  view  priestliness 
generally  with  favor.  He  was  evidently  of  such  stuff  as  Chris 
tian  heros  have  ever  been  made  of,  and  would  have  faced 
staka  and  fagot,  at  the  call  of  duty,  with  unquailing  eye.  Hia 
name  was  Father  Hamilton,  and  he  was  stationed  at  Macon. 
The  world  should  know  more  of  a  man  whose  services  were  so 
creditable  to  humanity  and  his  Church. 

The  good  father  had  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent,  with  the 


A  STORY  OF  KEBEL  MELITABY  PBISON8.  217 

harmlessness  of  the  dove.  Though  full  of  commiseration  for 
the  unhappy  lot  of  the  prisoners,  nothing  could  betray  him  into 
the  slightest  expression  of  opinion  regarding  the  war  or  those 
who  were  the  authors  of  all  this  misery.  In  our  impatience  at 
our  treatment,  and  hunger  for  news,  we  forgot  his  sacerdotal 
character,  and  importuned  him  for  tidings  of  the  exchange. 
His  invariable  reply  was  that  he  lived  apart  from  these  things 
and  kept  himself  ignorant  of  them. 

"But,  father,"  said  I  one  day,  with  an  impatience  that  I 
could  not  wholly  repress,  "you  must  certainly  hear  or  read 
something  of  this,  while  you  are  outside  among  the  Rebel 
officers. "  Like  many  other  people,  I  suppose'd  that  the  whole 
world  was  excited  over  that  in  which  I  felt  a  deep  interest. 

"  No,  my  son,"  replied  he,  in  his  usual  calm,  measured  tones 
"  I  go  not  among  them,  nor  do  I  hear  anything  from  them. 
When  I  leave  the  prison  in  the  evening,  full  of  sorrow  at  what 
I  have  seen  here,  I  find  that  the  best  use  I  can  make  of  my 
time  is  in  studying  the  Word  of  God,  and  especially  the  Psalms 
of  David." 

We  were  not  any  longer  good  company  for  each  other.  We 
had  heard  over  and  over  again  all  each  others  stories  and  jokes, 
and  each  knew  as  much  about  the  other's  previous  history  as  we 
chose  to  communicate.  The  story  of  every  individual's  past  life, 
relations,  friends,  regiment,  and  soldier  experience  had  been  told 
again  and  again,  until  the  repetition  was  wearisome.  The  cool 
nights  following  the  hot  days  were  favorable  to  little  gossiping 
seances  like  the  yarn-spinning  watches  of  sailors  on  pleasant 
nights.  Our  squad,  though  its  stock  of  stories  was  worn  thread 
bare,  was  fortunate  enough  to  have  a  sweet  singer  in  Israel  — 
"Nosey"  Payne  —  of  whose  tunefulness  we  never  tired.  lie 
had  a  large  repertoire  of  patriotic  songs,  which  he  s?.ng  with 
feeling  and  correctness,  and  which  helped  much  to  make  the 
calm  Summer  nights  pass  agreeably.  Among  the  best  of  these 
was  the  following,  which  I  always  thought  was  the  finest 
ballad,  both  in  poetry  and  music,  produced  by  the  War;  — 


4     A 


213 


AJSTDERSONVILLE. 

BEAYE  BOYS  AEE  THEY! 


-/-tv^—  Hi  —  ^  ^S  —  9,  —                        -^  ..   *?-  ~^~ 

...    s  N  9\  ft  £--, 

-70*9—1  —rr~  a  •-.-  •  *                 *           K,       1       i      '      ^   ' 

^7        ,*•   -          ^    -*   ^      -*•• 

Heav  -  i  -  ly     falls     the     rain,       Wild 

^_|,  ^       ,              ,*      4   3^  -p-p* 

;-J         '-LJ 

are   the    breez  -  es      to- 

1       '     1        S 

^y                                                                _^,       ^        ^ 
night;       Bat  'neath  the     roof,     the    hours    as    they     fly,      Are 

IS.        (K    Kltard.   ^^                                                 ^ 

*                                                            —                           '^                                                                        J 

h»p-py     and      calm        and  bright      Gath-er-ing   round    our 

_nsu     —  1-^  —  h    s    ru  N  J   -fc-^-J     -    *•    -»-• 

^S       5          _i        *            ;      1 

rPT^/  t^        *    •            /      •  "•                         2  *               rJ      ' 

*          5  •      *          *> 

*                      j       } 

•/                -*•  * 
fixe  -  side,  Tho'     it     be     sum-mer  time, 

Rttard. 

..        S       \ 

f—  9  —  b~~k  |S  N  ^  ^  •(  —  T*^  —  *^  V 

We   sit      and  talk    of 

/rs 

-  -  C*!         ^       |      T 

broth-era       a  -  broad,    For-get  -  ting    th« 
cnoBirs. 

'-'  r^i  —  • 

mid  -  night  chime. 

—  r-  p'  jj  K  

y,  j.  r  ^_j_i_^j^_._e_ 

Brave     boys  are    they!       Gone     at  tb«ir 

0      ,L      '                               ,i                       fe     / 

"it  —  L  rP  —  «  —  :  H  1  —   '  '^""^  '  —  •»  ^  9^  —  "  — 

coun  -  try's  catl  ;      And 

Js,            N 

«  3  yj  •  

Brave     br>^B   arc     they!       Gone     at  their 

^rrV^  —  '  1  F  —  i  —  r~^~"i 

coun  -  try's  cail  ;      And 

f»                »          SI           «.       • 

P  ]>  }>  \  '     i      r        '*          " 

—  1  2  LJ  !gi  1 
lltnrd.^rs 

€> 

yet,  and  yet,  TTC  can  not  forget,  That  many 

T       N       N 

brave  -boys  must  full, 
S                ^ 

^^?     *     *5     ^     **     ;    ^     ^    ^    9 

yet,  and  yet,  we  can  not  forget,  That  many 

•p^»    [^  ,^      »         ^      *         ^                            IV      i           N 

brave  boys  must  fall. 

~5?—  r  r  —r31 

SaEji  —  '  -    ^'  ,'..  ^  ^=  -V--  ^  -  *  "^~u 

y  r  —  ^--^^fj 

2.  STORY  OF  BEBEL  MILITAET  PEISOffa.  819 


Under  the  homestead  roof, 

Nestled  BO  cozy  and  warm, 
While  soldiers  sleep,  with  little  or  naught, 

To  shelter  them  from  the  storm. 
Besting  on  grassy  couches, 

Pillow  'd  on  hillocks  damp  ; 
Of  martial  fare,  how  littie  we  know, 

Till  brothers  are  in  the  camp. 

Chant*—  BraTe  boy*  are  they  T 

Gone  at  their  country's  can  ; 
And  yet,  and  yet,  we  CMMH*  forg*, 

That  taany  t  brav«  boya  nau»t  talL 

Thinking  no  less  of  them, 

Loving  our  wmntry  the  more, 
We  sent  them  forth  to  fight  for  th«  flag, 

Their  fathers  before  tlnsm  bore. 
Though  the  great  tear-drops  started, 

Tnia  was  oar  parting  truist  : 
God  bless  yon  boys  !  we'll  welcome  you  nomt 

When  Rebels  are  in  the  do*L" 

Ghent  —  Brave  boy*  are  they  ! 

Gone  at  their  country's  call  ; 
And  yet,  and  yet,  we  cannot  forget, 
That  many  brave  boys  moat  falL 


Hay  the  bright  wings  of  >ove, 

Guard  them  wherever  they  roam  ; 
The  time  has  come  when  brothers  must  ftgbft 

And  sisters  most  pray  at  home. 
Oh  !   the  dread  field  of  battle  1 

Soon  to  be  strewn  with  graves  f 
If  brothers  fall,  then  bnry  them  where 

Our  banner  in  triumph  waves. 


—  Brave  boys  are  they  ! 

Gone  at  their  country's  caD  ; 
And  yet,  and  yet,  we  eanntt 
That  many  brave  boyi  mu*t  fail. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

LICB       AND       EAIDEES PBACTICE8       OF     THESE      HUMAJf 

YXBMIN PLUNDERING    THE    6ICK    AND   DYING NIGHT    ATTACKS, 

ASD   BATTLES    BY    DAY HAED    TIMES    FOE    THE    SMALL    TEADEES. 

With  each  long,  hot  Summer  hour  the  lice,  the  maggot-flies 
tod  the  N'Yaarkers  increased  in  numbers  and  venomous  activ 
ity.  They  were  ever-present  annoyances  and  troubles ;  no  time 
was  free  from  them.  The  lice  worried  us  by  day  and  tormented 
us  by  night ;  the  maggot-flies  fouled  our  food,  and  laid  in  sores 
and  wounds  larvae  that  speedily  became  masses  of  wriggling 
worms.  The  ~N'  Yaarkers  were  human  vermin  that  preyed  upon 
and  harried  us  unceasingly. 

They  formed  themselves  into  bands  numbering  from  five  to 
twenty-five,  each  led  by  a  bold,  unscrupulous,  energetic  scoun 
drel.  We  now  called  them  "  Raiders,"  and  the  most  prominent 
and  best  known  of  the  bands  were  called  by  the  names  of  their 
ruffian  leaders,  as  "  Mosby's  Raiders,"  "  Curtis's  Raiders," 
"  Delaney's  Raiders,"  "  Sarsfield's  Raiders,"  "  Collins's  Raid 
ers,"  etc. 

As  long  as  we  old  prisoners  formed  the  bulk  of  those  inside 
the  Stockade,  the  Raiders  had  slender  picking.  They  would 
occasionally  snatch  a  blanket  from  the  tent  poles,  or  knock  a 
boy  down  at  the  Creek  and  take  his  silver  watch  from  him  ; 
but  this  was  all.  Abundant  opportunities  for  securing  richer 
swag  came  to  them  with  the  advent  of  the  Plymouth  Pilgrims. 
As  had  been  before  stated,  these  boys  brought  in  with  them  a 
large  portion  of  their  first  instalment  of  veteran  bounty  — 
aggregating  in  amount,  according  to  varying  estimates,  between 
rtwenty-five  thousand  aad  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Tha 


A  STORY  OF  BEBEL  MTLrTAET  PBISON3.  221 

Pilgrims  were  likewise  well  clothed,  had  an  abundance  of 
blankets  and  cainp  equipage,  ami  a  plentiful  supply  of  per 
sonal  trinkets,  that  could  be  readilv  traded  off  to  the  Rebels. 
An  average  one  of  them  —  even  if  his  money  were  all  gone — 
was  a  bonanza  to  any  band  which  could  succeed  in  plundering 
him.  His  watch  and  chain,  shoes,  knife,  ring,  handkerchief, 
combs  and  similar  trifles,  would  net  several  hundred  dollars  in 
Confederate  money.  The  blockade,  which  cut  off  the  Rebel' 
communication  with  the  outer  world,  made  these  in  great 
demand.  Many  of  the  prisoners  that  came  in  from  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  repaid  robbing  equally  woll.  As  a  rule  those 
from  that  Army  were  not  searched  so  closely  as  those  from  the 
West,  and  not  unfrequently  they  came  in  with  all  their  belong 
ings  untouched,  where  Sherman's  men,  arriving  the  same  day, 
•would  be  stripped  nearly  to  the  buff. 

The  methods  of  the  Raiders  were  various,  ranging  all  tho 
way  from  sneak  thievery  to  highway  robbery.  All  the  arts 
learned  in  the  prisons  and  purlieus  of  New  York  were  put  into 
exercise.  Decoys,  "  bunko-steerers  "  at  home,  would  be  on  the 
look-out  for  promising  subjects  as  each  crowd  of  fresh  prison 
ers  entered  the  gate,  and  by  kindly  oilers  to  find  them  a  sleep 
ing  place,  lure  them  to  where  they  could  be  easily  despoiled 
during  the  night.  If  the  victim  resisted  there  was  always  suffi 
cient  force  at  hand  to  conquer  him,  and  not  seldom  his  lifo 
paid  the  penalty  of  his  contumacy.  I  have  known  as  many  as 
three  of  these  to  be  killed  in  a  night,  and  their  bodies  —  with 
throats  cut,  or  skulls  crushed  in  —  be  found  in  the  morning 
among  the  dead  at  the  gates. 

All  men  having  money  or  valuables  were  under  continual 
espionage,  and  when  found  in  places  convenient  for  attack,  a 
rush  was  made  for  them.  They  were  loiocked  down  and  their 
persons  rifled  with  such  swift  dexterity  that  it  was  done  befora 
they  realized  what  had  happened. 

At  first  these  depredations  were  only  perpetrated  at  night. 
The  quarry  was  selected  during  the  day,  and  arrangements 
made  for  a  descent.  After  the  victim  was  asleep  the  band 
dashed  down  upon  him,  and  sheared  him  of  his  goods  with 
incredible  swiftness.  Those  near  would  raise  the  cry  of 
"  Raiders  I "  and  attack  the  robbers.  If  the  latter  had  secured 


ANDERSONYILLIS 

their  booty  they  retreated  with  all  possible  speed,  and  were 
soon  lost  in  the  crowd.  If  not,  they  would  offer  battle,  and 
signal  for  assistance  from  the  other  bands.  Severe  engage 
ments  of  this  kind  were  of  continual  occurrence,  in  which  men 
were  so  badly  beaten  as  to  die  from  the  effects.  The  weapons 
used  were  fists,  clubs,  axes,  tent-poles,  etc.  The  Eaiders  were 
plentifully  provided  with  the  usual  weapons  of  their  class — 
slung-shots  and  brass-knuckles.  Several  of  them  had  succeeded 
in  smuggling  bowie-knives  into  prison. 

They  had  the  great  advantage  in  these  rows  of  being  well 
acquainted  with  each  other,  while,  except  the  Plymouth 
Pilgrims,  the  rest  of  the  prisoners  were  made  up  of  small 
squads  of  men  from  each  regiment  in  the  service,  and  total 
strangers  to  all  outside  of  their  own  little  band.  The  Raiders 
could  concentrate,  if  necessary,  four  hundred  or  five  hundred 
men  upon  any  point  of  attack,  and  each  member  of  the  gangs 
had  become  so  familiarized  with  all  the  rest  by  long  association 
in  New  York,  and  elsewhere,  that  he  never  dealt  a  blow  amiss, 
while  their  opponents  were  nearly  as  likely  to  attack  friends  as 
enemies. 

By  the  middle  of  June  the  continual  success  of  the  Raiders 
emboldened  them  so  that  they  no  longer  confined  their  depre 
dations  to  the  night,  but  made  their  forays  in  broad  daylight, 
and  there  was  hardly  an  hour  in  the  twenty-four  that  the  cry 
of  "  Raiders !  Raiders ! "  did  not  go  up  from  some  part  of  the 
pen,  and  on  looking  in  the  direction  of  the  cry  one  would  see  a 
surging  commotion,  men  struggling,  and  clubs  being  plied 
vigorously.  This  was  even  more  common  than  the  guards 
shooting  men  at  the  Creek  crossing. 

One  day  I  saw  "  Dick  Allen's  Raiders,"  eleven  in  number, 
attack  a  man  wearing  the  uniform  of  Ellett's  Marine  Brigade, 
lie  was  a  recent  comer,  and  alone,  but  he  was  brave.  He  had 
come  into  possession  of  a  spade,  by  some  means  or  another,  and 
he  used  this  with  delightful  vigor  and  effect.  Two  or  three 
times  he  struck  one  of  his  assailants  so  fairly  on  the  head  and 
with  such  good  will  that  I  congratulated  myself  that  he  had 
killed  him.  Finally,  Dick  Allen  managed  to  slip  around 
behind  him  unnoticed,  and  striking  him  on  the  head  with  a 
•lun^-shot,  knocked  him  down,  when  the  whole  crowd  pounced 


A  STORY  OF  REBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS. 


223 


upon  him  to  kill  him,  but  were  driven  off  by  others  rallying  to 
his  assistance. 

The  proceeds  of  these  forays  enabled  the  Raiders  to  vraj:  fat 
and  lusty,  while  others  were  dying  from  starvation.     They  all 


WK&      /  ::--=- WK2>  1  'zf-^^M»**i*v '     "M/4$      -ffl-5     - 

&£>  K-'^Ji^A/aHs^^^^^2 


^^s&w 

C^fe?^MSp»^-  ^<y  \  \ 

\\  \ 


\  \ 


FIGHT  WTTTT  ONE  OF  ELLETT  S  MARINE  BRIGADE. 


had  good  tents,  constructed  of  stolen  blankets,  and  their  head 
quarters  was  a  large,  roomy  tent,  with  a  circular  top,  situated 
on  the  street  leading  to  the  South  Gate,  and  capable  of  accom 
modating  from  seventy-live  to  one  hundred  men.  All  the 
material  for  this  had  been  wrested  away  from  others.  While 
hundreds  were  dying  of  scurfy  and  diarrhea,  from  the  miser 
able,  insufficient  food,  and  lack  of  vegetables,  these  fellows  had 
fresh  meat,  onions^  potato^  ^rean  beans^  and 


221 

tilings,  the  very  looks  of  which  were  a  torture  to  hungry,  scor 
butic,  dysenteric  men.  They  were  on  the  best  possible  terms 
with  the  Kebels,  whom  they  fawned  upon  and  groveled  before, 
End  were  in  return  allowed  many  favors,  in  the  way  of  trading, 
going  out  upon  detail,  and  making  purchases. 

Among  their  special  objects  of  attack  were  the  small  traders 
in  the  prison.  "We  had  quite  a  number  of  these  whose  genius 
for  barter  was  so  strong  that  it  took  root  and  flourished  even 
in  that  unpropitious  soil,  and  during  the  time  when  new  pris 
oners  were  constantly  coming  in  with  money,  they  managed  to 
accumulate  small  sums  —  from  ten  dollars  upward,  by  trading 
between  the  guards  and  the  prisoners.  In  the  period  immedi 
ately  following  a  prisoner's  entrance  he  was  likely  to  spend 
all  his  money  and  trade  off  all  his  possessions  for  food,  trusting 
to  fortune  to  get  him  out  of  there  when  these  were  gone. 
Then  was  when  he  was  profitable  to  these  go-betweens,  who 
managed  to  make  him  pay  handsomely  for  what  he  got.  The 
Raiders  kept  watch  of  these  traders,  and  plundered  them 
whenever  occasion  served.  It  reminded  one  of  the  habits  of 
the  fishing  eagle,  which  hovers  [around  until  some  other  bird 
a  Sab,  and  then  takes  it  awaj. 


CHAPTEB 


A  COMMUNITY  WITHOUT  GOVERNMENT  -  FOLIATION  OT  TWE  REO 
ULATORS  -  RAIDERS  ATTACK  KEY  BUT  ARE  BLUFFED  OFF  - 
A68AULT  OF  THE  REGULATORS  ON  THE  RAIDERS  —  DESPEJJAT3 
BATTLE  -  OVERTHROW  OF  THE  RAIDERS. 

To  fully  appreciate  the  condition  of  affairs  let  it  be  remer»- 
bered  that  we  were  a  community  of  twenty-live  thousand  boys 
and  young  men  —  none  too  regardful  of  control  at  best  —  and 
now  wholly  destitute  of  government.  The  Kebels  never  made 
the  slightest  attempt  to  maintain  order  in  the  prison.  Their 
whole  energies  were  concentrated  in  preventing  our  escape.  So 
long  as  we  staid  inside  the  Stockade,  they  cared  as  little  what 
we  did  there  as  for  the  performances  of  savages  in  the  interior 
of  Africa.  I  doubt  if  they  would  have  interfered  had  one-half 
of  us  killed  and  eaten  the  other  half.  They  rather  took  a 
delight  in  such  atrocities  as  came  to  their  notice.  It  was  an 
ocular  demonstration  of  the  total  depravity  of  the  Yankees. 

Among  ourselves  there  was  no  one  in  position  to  lay  down 
law  and  enforce  it.  Being  all  enlisted  men  we  were  on  a  dead 
level  as  far  as  rank  was  concerned  —  the  highest  being  only 
Sergeants,  whose  stripes  curried  no  weight  of  authority.  The 
time  of  our  stay  was  —  it  was  hoped  —  too  transient  to  make  it 
worth  while  bothering  about  organizing  any  form  of  govern 
ment.  The  great  bulk  of  the  boys  were  recent  comers, 
who  hoped  that  in  another  week  or  so  they  would  be  out  again. 
There  were  no  fat  salaries  to  tempt  any  one  to  take  upon  him 
self  the  duty  of  ruling  the  masses,  and  all  were  left  to  their  own, 
devices,  to  do  good  or  evil,  according  to  their  several  bents, 
and  as  fear  or  consequences  swayed,  them.  Each  little  squad  ol 
15 


223  AJTDERSONVILLX. 

men  was  a  law  unto  themselves,  and  made  and  enforced  their 
own  regulations  on  their  own  territory.  The  administration  of 
justice  was  reduced  to  its  simplest  terms.  If  a  fellow  did 
wrong  he  was  pounded  —  if  there  was  anybody  capable  of 
doing  it.  If  not  he  went  free. 

The  almost  unvarying  success  of  the  Raiders  in  their  forays 
gave  the  general  impression  that  they  were  invincible  —  that  is, 
that  not  enough  men  could  be  concentrated  against  them  to 
whip  them.  Our  ill-success  in  the  attack  we  made  on  them  in 
April  helped  us  to  the  same  belief.  If  we  could  not  beat  them 
then,  we  could  not  now,  after  we  had  been  enfeebled  by  months 
of  starvation  and  disease.  It  seemed  to  us  that  the  Plymouth 
Pilgrims,  whose  organization  was  yet  very  strong,  should  under 
take  the  task ;  but,  as  is  usually  the  case  in  this  world,  where 
we  think  somebody  else  ought  to  undertake  the  performance  of 
a  disagreeable  public  duty,  they  did  not  see  it  in  the  light  that 
we  wished  them  to.  They  established  guards  around  their 
squads,  and  helped  beat  off  the  Raiders  when  their  own  territory 
was  invaded,  but  this  was  all  they  would  do.  The  rest  of  U3 
formed  similar  guards.  In  the  southwest  corner  of  the  Stock 
ade —  where  I  was  —  we  formed  ourselves  into  a  company  of 
fifty  active  boys  —  mostly  belonging  to  my  own  battalion  and 
to  other  Illinois  regiments  —  of  which  I  was  elected  Cap 
tain.  My  First  Lieutenant  was  a  tall,  taciturn,  long-armed 
member  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Eleventh  Illinois,  whom  we 
called  "  Egypt,"  as  he  came  from  that  section  of  the  State. 
He  was  wonderfully  handy  with  his  fists.  I  think  he  could 
knock  a  fellow  down  so  that  he  would  fall  harder,  and  lie 
longer  than  any  person  I  ever  saw.  We  made  a  tacit  division 
of  duties  :  I  did  the  talking,  and  "  Egypt "  went  through  the  man 
ual  labor  of  knocking  our  opponents  down.  In  the  numerous 
little  encounters  in  which  our  company  was  engaged,  "Egypt" 
would  stand  by  my  side,  silent,  grim  and  patient,  while  I  pur 
sued  the  dialogue  with  the  leader  of  the  other  crowd.  As  soon 
as  he  thought  the  conversation  had  reached  the  proper  point, 
his  long  left  arm  stretched  out  like  a  flash,  and  the  other  fellow 
dropped  as  if  he  had  suddenly  come  in  range  of  a  mule  that 
was  feeling  well.  That  unexpected  left-hander  never  failed. 
It  would  have  made  Charles  Reade's  heart  leap  for  joy  to  see  it. 


A  BTOET  OF  REBET    MILITARY  PRISONS.  £27 

In  spite  of  our  company  and  our  watchfulness,  the  "Rniders 
boat  us  badly  on  one  occasion.  Marion  Friend,  oi'  Company  I 
of  our  battalion,  was  onii  of  the  small  traders,  and  had  accumu 
lated  forty  dollars  by  his  bartering.  One  evening  at  dusk 
Delaney's  Raiders,  about  twenty- live  strong,  took  advantage  of 
the  absence  of  most  of  us  drawing  rations,  to  make  a  rash  for 
Marion.  They  knocked  him  down,  cut  him  across  the  wrist 
and  neck  with  a  ra;:or,  and  robbed  him  of  his  forty  dollars. 
By  the  time  we  could  rally  Delaney  and  his  attendant  scoun 
drels  were  safe  from  pursuit,  in  the  midst  of  their  friends. 

This  state  of  things  had  become  unendurable.  Sergeant 
Leroy  L.  Key,  of  Company  AT,  our  battalion,  resolved  to  make 
an  effort  to  crush  the  Raiders.  He  was  a  printer,  from  Bloom- 
ington,  Illinois,  tall,  dark,  intelligent  and  strong-willed,  and 
one  of  the  bravest  men  I  ever  knew.  lie  was  ably  seconded 
by  "  Limber  Jim,"  of  the  Sixty-Seventh  Illinois,  whose  lithe, 
sinewy  form,  and  striking  features  reminded  one  of  a  young 
SIOILX  brave.  He  had  all  of  Key's  desperate  courage,  but  not 
his  brains  or  his  talent  for  leadership.  Though  fearfully i 
reduced  in  numbers,  our  battalion  had  still  about  one  hundred 
•well  men  in  it,  and  these  formed  the  nucleus  for  Key's  band  of 
"  Regulators,"  as  they  were  styled.  Among  them  were  several 
who  had  no  equals  in  physical  strength  and  courage  in  any  of 
the  Raider  chiefs.  Our  best  man  was  Ned  Carrigan,  Corporal 
of  Company  I,  from  Chicago  —  who  was  so  confessedly  the 
best  man  in  the  whole  prison  that  he  was  never  called  upon  to 
demonstrate  it.  He  was  a  big-hearted,  genial  Irish  boy,  who 
was  never  known  to  get  into  trouble  on  his  own  account,  but 
only  used  his  lists  when  some  of  his  comrades  were  imposed 
upon.  He  had  fought  in  the  rinr-,  and  on  one  occasion  had 
killed  a  man  with  a  single  blow  of  his  iibi,  in  a  prize  fight  near 
St.  Louis.  We  were  all  very  proud  of  him,  and  it  was  as  good 
as  an  entertainment  to  us  to  see  the  noisiest  roughs  subside  into 
deferential  silence  as  Ned  would  come  among  them,  like  some 
grand  mastiff  in  the  midst  of  a  pack  of  yelping  curs.  Ned 
entered  into  the  regulating  scheme  heartily.  Other  stalwart 
specimens  of  physical  manhood  in  our  battalion  were  Sergeant 
.  Goody,  Ned  Johnson,  Tom  Larkin^  and  others,  who,  while  not 


223 


JLNDERSONVILLE. 


approaching  Carrigan's  perfect  manhood,  were  still  more  than 
a  match  for  the  best  of  the  Raiders. 

Key  proceeded  with  the  greatest  secresy  in  the  organization, 
of  his  forces.     He  accepted  none  but  Western  men,  and  pre> 


KEY    BLUFFING    HIS    WOULD-BE    ASSASSINS. 

ferred  Ulinoisans,  lowans,  Kansans,  Indianians  and  Ohioana, 
The  boys  from  those  States  seemed  to  naturally  go  together, 
and  be  moved  by  the  same  motives.  He  informed  Wirz  what 
he  proposed  doing,  so  that  any  unusual  commotion  within  the 
prison  might  not  be  mistaken  for  an  attempt  upon  the  Stock 
ade,  and  made  the  excuse  for  opening  with  the  artillery. 
"Wirz,  who  happened  to  be  in  a  complaisant  humor,  approved  of 
the  design,  and  allowed  him  the  use  of  the  enclosure  of  the 
North  Gate  to  confine  his  prisoners  in. 

In  spite  of   Key's  efforts  at  secresy,  information  as  to  his 
•eheino  reached  the  Raiders.    It  was  debated  at  their  head- 


A  8TOET  OF  REBEL  OTLTTAET  PRISONS. 

quarters,  and  decided  there  that  Key  must  be  killed.  Three 
men  were  selected  to  do  this  work.  They  called  on  Key,  at 
dusk,  on  the  evening  of  the  2d  of  July.  In  response  to 
their  inquiries,  he  came  out  of  the  blanket-covered  hole  on  the 
hillside  that  he  called  his  tent.  They  told  him  what  they  had 
heard,  and  asked  if  it  was  true.  He  said  it  was.  One  of  them 
then  drew  a  knife,  and  the  other  two,  "  billies  "  to  attack  him. 
But,  anticipating  trouble,  Key  had  procured  a  rerolver 
which  one  of  the  Pilgrims  had  brought  in  in  his  knapsack, 
and  drawing  this  he  drove  them  off,  but  without  firing  a  shot. 

The  occurrence  caused  the  greatest  excitement.  To  us  of 
the  Regulators  it  showed  that  the  Raiders  had  penetrated  our 
designs,  and  were  prepared  for  them.  To  the  great  majority 
of  the  prisoners  it  was  the  first  intimation  that  such  a  thing 
was  contemplated  ;  the  news  spread  from  squad,  to  squad  with 
the  greatest  rapidity,  and  soon  everybody  was  discussing  the 
chances  of  the  movement.  For  awhile  men  ceased  their  inter 
minable  discussion  of  escape  and  exchange  —  let  those  over 
worked  words  and  themes  have  a  rare  spell  of  repose  —  and 
debated  whether  the  Raiders  would  whip  the  Regulators,  or 
the  Regulators  conquer  the  Raiders.  The  reasons  which  I 
have  previously  enumerated,  induced  a  General  disbelief  in  the 
probability  of  our  success.  The  Raiders  were  in  good  health, 
well  fed,  used  to  operating  together,  and  had  the  f/mfidence 
begotten  by  a  long  series  of  successes.  The  Regulate^  lacked 
in  all  these  respects. 

Whether  Key  had  originally  fixed  on  the  next  day  for 
making  the  attack,  or  whether  this  aifair  precipitated  the 
crisis,  I  know  not,  but  later  in  the  evening  he  sent  us  all  orders 
to  be  on  our  guard  all  night,  and  ready  for  action  the  next- 
morning. 

There  was  very  little  sleep  anywhere  that  night.  The 
Rebels  learned  through  their  spies  that  something  unusual  was 
going  on  inside,  and  as  their  only  interpretation  of  anything 
unusual  there  was  a  design  upon  the  Stockade,  they  strength 
ened  the  guards,  took  additional  precautions  in  every  way,  and 
spent  the  hours  in  anxious  anticipation. 

We,  fearing  that  the  Raiders  might  attempt  to  frustrate  the 
scheme  by  an  attack  in  overpowering  force  on  Key's  squad, 


£20  AUDERSOimLLE. 

which  would  be  accompanied  by  the  assassination  of  him  and 
Limber  Jim,  held  ourselves  in  readiness  to  offer  any  assistance 
that  might  be  needed. 

The  Kaiders,  though  confident  of  success,  were  no  less 
exercised.  They  threw  out  pickets  to  all  the  approaches  to 
their  headquarters,  and  provided  otherwise  against  surprise. 
They  had  smuggled  in  some  canteens  of  a  cheap,  vile  whisky — 
made  from  sorghum  —  and  they  grew  quite  hilarious  in  their 
Big  Tent  over  their  potations.  Two  songs  had  long  ago  been 
accepted  by  us  as  peculiarly  the  Raiders'  own  —  as  some  one 
in  their  crowd  sang  them  nearly  every  evening,  and  we  never 
heard  them  anywhere  else.  The  first  began : 

In  Athol  lived  a  man  named  Jerry  Lanagan; 

He  battered  away  till  he  hadn't  a  pound. 
Bis  father  he  died,  and  he  made  him  a  man  agin; 

Left  him  a  farm  of  ten  acre*  of  ground. 

The  other  related  the  exploits  of  an  Irish  highwayman 
named  Brennan,  whose  chief  virtue  was  that 

What  he  rob-bed  from  the  rich  he  gave  onto  the  poor. 

And  this  was  the  villainous  chorus  in  which  they  all  joined, 
and  sang  in  such  a  way  as  suggested  highway  robbery,  murder, 
mayhem  and  arson : 

Brennan  on  the  moor  ! 
Brennan  on  the  moor  I 

Prond  and  undaunted  stood 
John  Brennan  on  the  moor. 

They  howled  these  two  nearly  the  live-long  night.  They 
became  eventually  quite  monotonous  to  us,  who  were  waiting 
and  watching.  It  would  have  been  quite  a  relief  if  they  had 
thrown  in  a  new  one  every  hour  or  so,  by  way  of  variety. 

Morning  at  last  came.  Our  companies  mustered  on  their 
grounds,  and  then  marched  to  the  space  on  the  South  Side 
where  vhe  rations  were  issued.  Each  man  was  armed  with  a 
small  club,  secured  to  his  wrist  by  a  string. 

The  Eebels  —  with  their  chronic  fear  of  an  outbreak  ani 
mating  them  —  had  all  the  infantry  in  line  of  battle  with 
loaded  guns.  The  cannon  in  the  works  were  shotted,  the  fuses 
thrust  into  the  touch-holes  and  the  men  stood  with  lanyards  in 
hand  ready  to  mow  down  everybody,  at  any  instant. 


A  8TOET  OF  REBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS. 


231 


The  sun  rose  rapidly  through  the  clear  sky,  which  soon 
glowed  down  on  us  like  a  brazen  oven.  The  whole  cainp 
gathered  where  it  could  best  view  the  encounter.  This  was 
upon  the  Xorth  Side.  As  I  have  before  explained  the  two 


REBEL    ARTILLERISTS    TRAINING    THE    CANNON    ON    THE    PRISON, 

Bides  sloped  toward  each  other  like  those  of  a  great  trough. 
The  Raiders'  headquarters  stood  upon  the  center  of  the  southern 
slope,  and  consequently  those  standing  on  the  northern  slope 
saw  everything  as  if  upon  the  stage  of  a  theater. 

While  standing  in  ranks  waiting  the  orders  to  move,  one  of 
my  comrades  touched  me  on  the  arm,  and  said :  — 

"  My  God  !  just  look  over  there !  " 

I  turned  from  watching  the  Rebel  artillerists,  whose  inten 
tions  gave  me  more  uneasiness  than  anything  else,  and  looked 
in  the  direction  indicated  by  the  speaker.  The  sight  was  the 
strangest  one  mv  eves  ever  encountered.  There  were  at  least 

«.  * 

fifteen  thousand  —  perhaps  twenty  thousand  —  men  packed 
together  on  the  bank,  and  every  eye  was  turned  on  us.  The 
slope  was  such  that  each  man's  face  showed  over  the  shoulders 
of  the  one  in  front  of  him.  making  acres  on  acres  of  faces,  ft 
was  as  if  the  whole  broad  hillside  fvas  paved  or  thatched  with 
human  countenances. 


232 


AHDIRSOHTILLE. 


When  afl  was  ready  we  moved  down  upon  the  Big  Tent,  in 
as  good  order  as  we  could  preserve  while  passing  through  the 
narrow  tortaous  paths  between  the  tents.  Key,  Limber  Jim, 
Carrigan,  Goody,  Tom  Larkin,  and  Ned  Johnson  led  the 


OVEBTHKOW   OF   THB   RAIDERS. 

advance  with  their  companies.  The  prison  was  as  silent  as  a 
graveyard.  As  we  approached,  the  Kaiders  massed  themselves 
in  a  strong,  heavy  line,  with  the  center,  against  which  our 
advance  was  moving,  held  by  the  most  redoubtable  of  their 
leaders.  How  many  there  were  of  them  could  not  be  told,  as 
it  was  impossible  to  say  where  their  line  ended  and  the  mass  of 
spectators  began.  They  could  not  themselves  tell,  as  the  atti- 
tnde  of  a  large  portion,  of  the  spectators  would  be  determined 
•by  which  way  the  battle  went. 

Not  a  blow  was  struck  until  the  lines  came  close  together. 
Then  the  Raider  center  launched  itself  forward  against  ours, 
and  grappled  savagely  with  the  leading  Regulators.  For  an 
—  it  seemed  an  hour — the  struggle  was  desperate. 


A  STOET  OF  REBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS.  233 

Strong,  fierce  men  clenched  and  strove  to  throttle  each  other  ; 
great  muscles  strained  almost  to  bursting1,  and  blows  with  fist 
and  club  —  dealt  with  all  the  energy  of  mortal  hate  —  fell  like 
hail.  One — perhaps  two  —  endless  minutes  the  lines  surged 
—  throbbed  —  backward  and  forward  a  step  or  two,  and  then, 
as  if  by  a  concentration  of  mighty  eilort,  our  men  flung  the 
Raider  line  back  from  it  —  broken  —  shattered.  The  next 
instant  our  leaders  were  striding  through  the  mass  like  raging 
lions.  Carrigan,  Limber  Jim,  Larkin,  Johnson  and  Goody 
each  smote  down  a  swath  of  men  before  them,  as  they  moved 
resistless  ly  forward. 

We  light  weights  had  been  sent  around  on  the  flanks  to 
separate  the  spectators  from  the  combatants,  strike  the  Raiders 
en  revere^  and,  as  far  as  possible,  keep  the  crowd  from  reinforc 
ing  them. 

In  five  minutes  after  the  first  blow  was  struck  the  overthrow 
of  the  Raiders  was  complete.  Resistance  ceased,  and  they 
sought  safety  in  flight. 

As  the  result  became  apparent  to  the  watchers  on  the  opposite 
hillside,  they  vented  then-  pent-up  excitement  in  a  yell  that 
made  the  very  ground  tremble,  and  we  answered  them  with  a 
shout  that  expressed  not  only  our  exultation  over  our  victory  ? 
but  our  great  relief  from  the  intense  strain  we  had  long  borne. 

We  picked  up  a  few  prisoners  on  the  battle  field,  and  retired 
without  making  any  special  effort  to  get  any  more  then,  as  we 
knew  that  they  could  not  escape  us. 

We  were  very  tired,  and  very  hungry.  The  time  for  draw 
ing  rations  had  arrived.  Wagons  containing  bread  and  mush 
had  driven  to  the  gates,  but  Wirz  would  not  allow  these  to  be 
opened,  lest  in  the  excited  condition  of  the  men  an  attempt 
might  be  made  to  carry  them.  Key  ordered  operations  to 
cease,  that  Wirz  might  be  re-assured  and  let  the  rations  enter. 
It  was  in  vain.  Wirz  was  thoroughly  scared.  The  wagons 
stood  out  in  the  hot  sun  until  the  mush  fermented  and  soured, 
and  had  to  be  thrown  away,  while  we  went  rationless  to  bed, 
and  rose  the  next  day  with  more  than  usually  empty  stomachs 
to  goad  us  on  to  our  work. 


CHAPTER  XXXYL 

WHY     THE     REGULATORS     WERE     NOT      ASSISTED      BY     THE      ENTERS 

CAMP PECULIARITIES      OF     BOYS     FROM     DIFFERENT     SECTIONS 

HUNTHfG   THE     RAIDERS    DOWN EXPLOITS    OF     MY     LEFT-HANDZD 

UEUTErrANT RUNNING   THE    GAUNTLET. 

I  may  not  have  made  it  wholly  clear  to  the  reader  why  we 
did  not  have  the  active  assistance  of  the  whole  prison  in  the 
struggle  with  the  Raiders.  There  were  many  reasons  for  this. 
First,  the  great  bulk  of  the  prisoners  were  new  comers,  having 
been,  at  the  farthest,  but  three  or  four  weeks  in  the  Stockade. 
They  did  not  comprehend  the  situation  of  aflairs  as  we  older 
prisoners  did.  They  did  not  understand  that  all  the  outrages 
—  or  very  nearly  all  —  were  the  work  of  a  relatively  small 
crowd  of  graduates  from  the  metropolitan  school  of  vice.  The 
activity  am1  audacity  of  the  Raiders  gave  them  the  impression 
ticat  at  least  half  the  able-bodied  men  in  the  Stockade  were 
eagaged  in  tiiese  depredations.  This  is  always  the  case.  A 
half  cozen  burglars  er  other  active  criminals  in  a  town  will 
produce  the  impression  that  a  large  portion  of  the  population 
are  law-breakers.  We  never  estimated  that  the  raiding 
N'Yaarkers,  with  their  spies  and  other  accomplices,  exceeded 
five  hundred,  but  it  would  have  been  difficult  to  convince  a  new 
prisoner  that  there  were  not  thousands  of  them.  Secondly, 
the  prisoners  were  made  up  of  small  squads  from  every  regi 
ment  at  the  front  along  the  whole  line  from  the  Mississippi  to 
the  Atlantic.  These  were  strangers  to  and  distrustful  of  all  out 
side  their  own  little  circles.  The  Eastern  men  were  especially 
so.  The  Permsylvanians  and  New  Yorkers  each  formed  groups, 
and  did  not  fraternize  readily  with  those  outside  their 


A  BTOET  OF  REBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS. 

State  lines.     The  New  Jerseyans  held  aloof  from  all  the  rest, 

while  the  Massachusetts  soldiers  had  very  little  in  common 
with  anybody  —  even  their  fellow  New  Englanders.  The 
Michigan  men  were  modified  New  Englanders.  They  had  the 
same  tricks  of  speech  ;  they  said  u  I  be "  for  "  I  am,"  and 
"  haag  "  for  "  hog  ;  "  "  Let  me  look  at  your  knife  half  a  sec 
ond,''  or  "  Give  me  just  a  sup  of  that  water,"  where  we  said 
simply  "  Lend  me  your  knife,"  or  "  hand  rne  a  drink."  They 
were  less  reserved  than  the  true  Yankees,  more  disposed  to  be 
social,  and,  with  all  their  eccentricities,  were  as  manly,  honor 
able  a  set  of  fellows  as  it  was  iny  fortune  to  meet  with  in  the 
army.  I  could  ask  no  better  comrades  than  the  boys  of  the 
Third  Michigan  Infantry,  who  belonged  to  the  same  u  Ninety" 
with  me.  The  boys  from  Minnesota  and  "Wisconsin  were  very 
much  like  those  from  Michigan.  Those  from  Ohio,  Indiana, 
Illinois,  Iowa  and  Kansas  all  seemed  cut  off  the  same  piece. 
To  all  intents  and  purposes  they  might  have  come  from  the 
same  County.  They  spoke  the  same  dialect,  read  ihe  same 
newspapers,  had  studied  McGuffey's  Readers,  Mitchell's  Geog 
raphy,  and  Ray's  Arithmetics  at  school,  admired  the  same 
great  men,  and  held  generally  the  same  opinions  on  any  given 
subject.  It  was  never  difficult  to  get  them  to  act  in 
unison  —  they  did  it  spontaneously  :  while  it  required  an  effort 
to  bring  about  harmony  of  action  with  those  from  other  sec 
tions.  Had  the  Western  boys  in  prison  been  thoroughly 
advised  of  the  nature  of  our  enterprise,  we  could,  doubtless, 
have  commanded  their  cordial  assistance,  but  they  were  not, 
and  there  was  no  way  in  which  it  could  be  done  readily,  until 
after  the  decisive  blow  was  struck. 

The  work  of  arresting  the  leading  Raiders  went  on  actively 
all  day  on  the  Fourth  of  July.  They  made  occasional  shows  of 
fierce  resistance,  but  the  events  of  the  day  before  had  destroyed 
their  prestige,  broken  their  confidence,  and  driven  away  from 
their  support  very  many  who  followed  their  lead  when  they 
were  considered  all-powerful.  They  scattered  from  their 
former  haunts,  and  mingled  with  the  crowds  in  other  parts  of 
the  prison,  but  were  recognized,  and  reported  to  Key,  who 
sent  parties  to  arrest  them.  Several  times  they  managed  to 
collect  enough  adherents  to  drive  oif  the  squads  sent  after  them, 


236 

but  this  only  gave  them  a  short  respite,  for  the  squad  would 
return  reinforced,  and  make  short  work  of  them.  Besides,  the 
prisoners  generally  were  beginning  to  understand  and  approve 
of  the  Kegulators'  movement,  and  were  disposed  to  give  all  the 
assistance  needed. 

Myself  and  "  Egypt,"  my  taciturn  Lieutenant  of  the  sinewy 
left  arm,  were  sent  with  our  company  to  arrest  Pete  Donnelly, 
a  notorious  character,  and  leader  of  a  bad  crowd.  He  was 
more  "  knocker  "  than  Raider,  however.  He  was  an  old  Pem- 
berton  building  acquaintance,  and  as  we  marched  up  to  where 
he  was  standing  at  the  head  of  his  gathering  clan,  he  recognized 
me  and  said : 

"  Hello,  Ulinoy,"  (the  name  by  which  I  was  generally  knowD 
in  prison.)  "  what  do  you  want  here  1 " 

I  replied,  "  Pete,  Key  has  sent  me  for  you.  I  want  you  to  go 
to  headquarters." 

"  TV  hat  the does  Key  want  with  me  ? " 

"  I  <?.on't  know,  I'm  sure ;  he  only  said  to  bring  you." 

"  But  I  haven't  had  anything  to  do  with  them  other  snoozers 
you  have  been  a-having  trouble  with." 

"  I  don't  know  anything  about  that ;  you  can  talk  to  Key  as 
to  that.  I  only  know  that  we  are  sent  for  you." 

:i  Well,  you  don't  think  you  can  take  me  unless  I  choose  to 
go  ?  You  haint  got  anybody  in  that  crowd  big  enough  to  make 
it  worth  while  for  him  to  waste  his  time  trying  it." 

I  replied  diffidently  that  one  never  knew  what  he  could  do 
till  he  tried ;  that  while  none  of  us  were  very  big,  we  were  as 
willing  a  lot  of  little  fellows  as  he  ever  saw,  and  if  it  were  all 
the  same  to  him,  we  would  undertake  to  waste  a  little  time 
getting  him  to  headquarters. 

The  conversation  seemed  unnecessarily  long  to  "  Egypt,"  who 
stood  by  my  side,  about  a  half  step  in  advance.  Pete  was 
becoming  angrier  and  more  defiant  every  minute.  His 
followers  were  crowding  up  to  us,  club  in  hand.  Finally  Pete 
thrust  his  fist  in  my  face,  and  roared  out :  — 

«  By 1  I  ain't  a  going  with  ye,  and  ye  can't  take  me, 

you " 

This  was  "  Egypt's  "  cue.  His  long  left  arm  uncoupled  like  the 
loosening  of  the  weight  of  a  pile-driver.  It  caught  Air.  Donnelly 


A  Bl  OBI   OT  ij»«gigfc  MHtTC£BT 


wider  the  chm,  faMy  lifted  him.  from  his  feet,  and  dropped 
ham  on  his  back  among  his  followers.  It  seemed  to  me  that 
the  predominating  expression  in  his  face  as  he  went  over  was 
that  of  profound  wonder  as  to  wbese  that  blow  couid  have 


ARREST    OF    PETE    DONNKLLY. 

come  from,  and  why  he  did  not  see  it  in  time  to  dodge  or  ward 
it  off. 

As  Pete  dropped,  the  rest  of  us  stepped  forward  with  our 
clubs,  to  engage  his  followers,  while  "  Egypt "  and  one  or  two 
others  tied  liis  hands  and  otherwise  secured  him.  But  his 
henchmen  made  no  effort  to  rescue  him,  and  we  carried  him 
over  to  headquar lei's  without  molestation. 

The  work  of  arresting  increased  in  interest  and  excitement 
until  it  developed  into  the  furore  of  a  hunt,  with  thousands 
eagerly  engaged  in  it.  The  Haiders'  tents  were  torn  down  and 
pillaged.  i^lankots,  tent  poles,  and  cooking  utensils  were 
carried  oil  as  spoils,  and  the  ground  was  dug  over  for  secreted 
property.  A  large  quantity  of  watches,  chains,  knives,  rings, 
gold  pens,  etc.,  etc. — the  booty  of  many  a  raid  —  was  found,  and 
helped  to  give  impetus  to  the  hunt.  Even  the  Rebel  Quarter 
master,  with  the  characteristic  keen  scent  of  the  Rebels  for 
spoils,  sineiled  from  the  outside  the  opportunity  for  gaining 


238 

plunder,  and  came  in  with  a  squad  of  Rebels  equipped  with 
spades,  to  dig  for  buried  treasures.  How  successful  he  was  I 
know  not,  as  I  took  no  part  in  any  of  the  operations  of  that 
nature. 

It  was  claimed  that  several  skeletons  of  victims  of  the  Raid- 
ers  were  found  buried  beneath  the  tents.  I  cannot  speak  with 
any  certainty  us  to  this,  though  my  impression  is  that  at  least 
one  was  found. 

By  evening  Key  had  perhaps  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  of 
the  most  noted  Raiders  in  his  hands.  "Wirz  had  allowed  him 
the  use  of  the  small  stockade  forming  the  entrance  to  the 
North  Gate  to  confine  them  in. 

The  next  thing  was  the  judgment  and  punishment  of  the 
arrested  ones.  For  this  purpose  Key  organized  a  court  martial 
composed  of  thirteen  Sergeants,  chosen  from  the  latest  arrivals 
of  prisoners,  that  they  might  have  no  prejudice  against  the 
Raiders.  I  believe  that  a  man  named  Dick  McCullough, 
belonging  to  the  Third  Missouri  Cavalry,  was  the  President  of 
the  Court.  The  trial  was  carefully  conducted,  with  all  the 
formality  of  a  legal  procedure  that  the  Court  and  those  manag 
ing  the  matter  could  remember  as  applicable  to  the  crimes  with 
which  the  accused  were  charged.  Each  of  these  was  con 
fronted  by  the  witnesses  who  testified  against  him,  and  allowed 
to  cross-examine  them  to  any  extent  he  desired.  The  defense 
was  managed  by  one  of  their  crowd,  the  foul-tongued  Tombs 
shy&^.<,  Pete  Bradley,  of  whom  I  have  before  spoken.  Such 
was  the  fear  of  the  vengeance  of  the  Raiders  and  their  friends 
that  many  who  had  been  badly  abused  dared  not  testify  against 
them,  dreading  midnight  assassination  if  they  did.  Others  would 
not  go  before  the  Court  except  at  night.  But  for  all  this  there 
was  no  lack  of  evidence ;  there  were  thousands  who  had  been 
robbed  and  maltreated,  or  who  had  seen  these  outrages  com 
mitted  on  others,  and  the  boldness  of  the  leaders  in  their  hight 
of  power  rendered  their  identification  a  matter  of  no  difficulty 
whatever. 

The  trial  lasted  several  days,  and  concluded  with  sentencing 
quite  a  large  number  to  run  the  gauntlet,  a  smaller  number  to 
wear  balls  and  chains,  and  the  following  six  to  be  handed  : 

John  Sarsneld,  One  Hundred  and  Forty-Fourth  Xew  York. 


A  8TOET  OF  REBEL  MTL1TABY  PKI8ON8. 


239 


William  Collins,  alias  "  Mosby,"  Company  D,  Eighty-Eighth 
Pennsylvania, 

Charles  Curtis,  Company  A,  Fifth  Rhode  Island  Artillery. 

Patrick  Delaney,  Company  E,  Eighty-Third  Pennsylvania. 

A.  Muir,  United  States  Navy. 

Terence  Sullivan,  Seventy-Second  New  York. 

These  names  and  regiments  are  of  little  consequence,  how 
ever,  as  I  believe  all  the  rascals  were  professional  bounty -jump 
ers,  and  did  not  belong  to  any  regiment  longer  than  they  could 
.find  an  opportunity  to  desert  and  join  another. 

Those  sentenced  to  ball-and-chain  were  brought  in  immedi 
ately,  and  had  the  irons  fitted  to  them  that  had  been  worn 
by  some  of  our  men  as  a  punishment  for  trying  to  escape 

It  was  not  yet  determined  how  punishment  should  be  meted 
out  to  the  remainder,  but  circumstances  themselves  decided  the 
matter.  Wirz  became  tired  of  guarding  so  large  a  number  as 
Key  had  arrested,  and  he  informed  Key  that  he  should  turn 
them  back  into  the  Stockade  immediately.  Key  begged  for 
little  farther  time  to  consider  the  disposition  of  the  cases,  but 
Wirz  refused  it,  and  ordered  the  Officer  of  the  Guard  to  return 
all  arrested,  save  those  sentenced  to  death,  to  the  Stock 
ade.  In  the  meantime  the  news  had  spread  through  the  prison 
that  the  Raiders  were  to  be  sent  in  again  unpunished,  and  an 
angry  mob,  numbering  some  thousands,  and  mostly  composed 
of  men  who  had  suffered  injuries  at  the  hands  of  the  maraud 
ers,  gathered  at  the  South  Gate,  clubs  in  hand,  to  get  such  sat 
isfaction  as  they  could  out  of  the  rascals.  They  formed  in  two 
long,  parallel  lines,  facing  inward,  and  grimly  awaited  the 
incoming  of  the  objects  of  their  vengeance. 

The  Officer  of  the  Guard  opened  the  wicket  in  the  gate,  and 
began  forcing  the  Raiders  through  it  —  one  at  a  time  —  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet,  and  each  as  he  entered  was  told  what  he 
already  realized  well  —  that  he  must  run  for  his  life.  They 
did  this  with  all  the  energy  that  they  possessed,  ar^l  as  they 
ran  blows  rained  on  their  heads,  arms  and  backs.  If  they  could 
succeed  in  breaking  through  the  line  at  any  place  they  were 
generally  let  go  without  any  further  punishment.  Three  of  the 
number  were  beaten  to  death.  I  saw  one  of  these  killed.  I 
had  no  liking  for  the  gauntlet  peri'ormance,  and  refused  to  have 


anything  to  do  with  it,  as  did  most,  if  not  all,  of  my  crowd. 
"While  the  gauntlet  was  in  operation,  I  was  standing  by  my  tent 
at  tUe  head  of  a  little  street,  about  two  hundred  feet  from  the 
line,  watching  what  was  being  done.  A  sailor  was  let  in.  He  had 
a  lar^e  bowie  knife  concealed  about  his  person  somewhere,  which 
he  drojw,  and  struck  savagely  with  at  his  tormentors  on  either 


DEATH   OF   THE   BAILOB 

side.  They  fell  back  from  before  him,  but  closed  in  behind 
and  .pounded  him  terribly.  He  broke  through  the  line,  and  ran 
up  the  street  towards  me.  About  midway  of  the  distance 
stood  a  boy  who  had  helped  carry  a  dead  man  out  during  the 
day.  and  while  out  had  secured  a  large  pine  rail  which  he  had 
brought  in  with  him.  He  was  holding  this  straight  up  in  the 
air,  as  if  at  a  "present  arms."  He  seemed  to  have  known  from 
the  first  that  the  Raider  would  run  that  way.  Just  as  he  came 
squarely  under  it,  the  boy  dropped  the  rail  like  the  'bar  of  a  toll 
gute.  It  struck  the  Raider  across  the  head,  felled  him  as  if  b y 
a  shot,  and  his  pursuers  then  beat  him  to  death. 


CHAPTEE  XXXYIL 

EXECTCTTON —  BUILDING      THE       SCAFFOLD  —  DOTTBTS       OF     THE 

OAMP CAPTAIN     WTRZ      THINKS      IT     18      PROBABLY     A     RUSE     TO 

FORCE     THE     6TOCKADE HI8     PREPARATIONS     AGAINST     SUCH     A3* 

ATTEMPT ENTRANCE    OF     THE     DOOMED     ONES THEY     REALIZE 

THEIR   FATE ONE    MAKES    A    DESPERATE    ATTEMPT   TO    ESCAPE 

HIS      RECAPTURE INTENSE       EXCITEMENT  —  WIRZ       ORDERS     THE 

GUNS     TO     OPEN FORTUNATELY     THEY     DO     NOT THE     SIX    ARS 

HANGED ONE    BREAKS    HIS    ROPE SCENE    WHEN     THE     RAIDERS 

ARE    CUT    DOWN. 

It  began  to  be  pretty  generally  understood  through  the  prison 
that  six  men  had  been  sentenced  to  be  hanged,  though  no 
authoritative  announcement  of  the  fact  had  been  made.  There 
was  much  canvassing  as  to  where  they  should  be  executed,  and 
whether  an  attempt  to  hang  them  inside  of  the  Stockade 
would  not  rouse  their  friends  to  make  a  desperate  effort  to  res 
cue  them,  which  would  precipitate  a  general  engagement  of 
even  larger  proportions  than  that  of  the  3d.  Despite  the 
result  of  the  affairs  of  that  and  the  succeeding  days,  the  camp 
was  not  yet  convinced  that  the  Raiders  were  really  conquered, 
and  the  Regulators  themselves  were  not  thoroughly  at  ease  on 
that  score.  Some  five  thousand  or  six  thousand  new  prisoners 
had  oorne  in  since  the  first  of  the  month,  and  it  was  claimed 
that  the  Raiders  had  received  large  reinforcements  from  those, 
—  a  claim  rendered  probable  by  most  of  the  new-cornel's  being 
from  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 

Key  and  those  immediately  about  him  kept  their  own  counsel 
in  the  matter,  and  suffered  no  secret  of  their  intentions  to  leak 
out,  until  on  the  morning  of  the  llth,  when  it  became  generally 


AITDERSOimLLB. 

known  that  the  sentences  were  to  be  carried  into  effect  that  dajf 
and  inside  the  prison. 

My  first  direct  information  as  to  this  was  by  a  messenger 
from  Key  with  an  order  to  assemble  my  company  and  stand 
guard  over  the  carpenters  who  were  to  erect  the  scaffold.  He 
informed  me  that  all  the  Regulators  would  be  held  in  readiness 
to  come  to  our  relief  if  we  were  attacked  in  force.  I  had 
hoped  that  if  the  men  were  to  be  hanged  I  would  be  spared  the 
unpleasant  duty  of  assisting,  for,  though  I  believed  they  richly 
deserved  that  punishment,  I  had  much  rather  some  one  else 
administered  it  upon  them.  There  was  no  way  out  of  it,  how 
ever,  that  I  could  see,  and  so  "  Egypt "  and  I  got  the  boys 
together,  and  marched  down  to  the  designated  place,  which 
was  an  open  space  near  the  end  of  the  street  running  from  the 
South  Gate,  and  kept  vacant  for  the  purpose  of  issuing  rations. 
It  was  quite  near  ilu-  spot  where  the  Haiders'  Big  Tent  had. 
stood,  and  afforded  as  good  a  view  to  the  rest  of  the  camp  as 
could  be  found. 

Key  had  secured  the  lean  of  a  few  beams  and  rough  planks, 
sufficient  to  build  a  rude  scaffold  with.  Our  first  duty  was  to 
care  for  these  as  they  came  in,  for  such  was  the  need  of  wood, 
and  plank  for  tent  purposes,  that  they  would  scarcely  have  fallen 
to  the  ground  before  they  were  spirited  away,  had  we  not  stood 
over  them  all  the  time  with  clubs. 

The  carpenters  sent  by  Key  came  over  and  set  to  work. 
Tho  N'Yaarkers  gathered  around  in  considerable  numbers, 
sullen  and  abusive.  They  cursed  us  with  all  their  rich  vocab 
ulary  of  foul  epithets,  vowed  Unit  \ve  should  never  carrv  out 
tV,e  execution,  and  swore  that  they  had  marked  each  one  for 
vengeance.  We  returned  the  compliments  in  kind,  and  occasion 
ally  it  iieemcd  as  if  a  general  collision  \vas  imminent;  but  \ve 
succeeded  in  avoiding  this,  and  by  noon  the  scaffold  was 
finished.  It  was  a  very  simple  affair.  A  stout  beam  was 
fastened  on  the  top  of  two  posts,  about  fifteen  feet  high.  At  about 
the  hight  of  a  man's  head  a  couple  of  boards  stretched  across 
the  space  between  the  posts,  and  met  in  the  center.  The  ends 
at  the  posts  laid  on  cleats ;  the  ends  in  the  center  rested  upon 
a»couple  of  boards,  standing  upright,  and  each  having  a  piece 
of  rope  fastened  through  a  hole  in  it  in  such  a  manner,  that  a 


1.  STOET  OF  KEBEL  MTLITJLET  PRISONS.  24:3 

man  could  snatch  it  from  under  the  planks  serving  as  the  floor 
of  the  scaffold,  and  let  the  whole  thing  drop.  A  rude  ladder  to 
ascend  by  completed  the  preparations. 

As  the  arrangements  neared  completion  the  excitement  in 
and  around  the  prison  grew  intense.  Key  came  over  with  the 
balance  of  the  Regulators,  and  we  formed  a  hollow  square 
around  the  scaffold,  our  company  making  the  line  on  the  East 
Side.  There  were  now  thirty  thousand  in  the  prison.  Of 
these  about  one-third  packed  themselves  as  tightly  about  our 
square  as  they  could  stand.  The  remaining  twenty  thousand 
were  wedged  together  in  a  solid  mass  on  the  Xorth  Side. 
Again  I  contemplated  the  wonderful,  startling,  spectacle  of 
a  mosaic  pavement  of  human  faces  covering  the  whole  broad 
hillside. 

Outside,  the  Rebel  infantry  was  standing  in  the  rifle  pits,  the 
artillerymen  were  in  place  about  their  loaded  and  trained 
pieces,  the  Xo.  4  of  each  gun  holding  the  lanyard  cord 
in  his  hand,  ready  to  fire  the  piece  at  the  instant  of  command. 
The  small  squad  of  cavalry  was  drawn  up  on  the  hill  near  the 
Star  Fort,  and  near  it  were  the  masters  of  the  hounds,  with  their 
yelping  packs. 

All  the  hangers-on  of  the  Rebel  camp  —  clerks,  teamsters, 
employes,  negros,  hundreds  of  white  and  colored  \vonien,  in  all 
forming  a  motley  crowd  of  between  one  and  two  thousand, 
were  gathered  together  in  a  group  between  the  end  of  the  riile 
pits  and  the  Star  Fort.  They  had  a  good  view  from  there,  but 
a  still  better  one  could  be  had  a  little  farther  to  the  right,  and 
in  front  of  the  guns.  They  kept  edging  up  in  that  direction, 
as  crowds  will,  though  they  knew  the  danger  they  would  incur 
if  the  artillery  opened. 

The  day  was  broiling  hot.  The  sun  shot  his  perpendicular 
rays  down  with  blistering  fierceness,  and  the  densely  packed, 
motionless  crowds  made  the  heat  almost  insupportable. 

Key  took  up  his  position  inside  the  square  to  direct  matters. 
With  him  were  Limber  Jim,  Dick  McCullough,  and  one  or  two 
others.  Also,  Xed  Johnson,  Tom  Larkin,  Sergeant  Goody, 
and  three  others  who  were  to  act  as  hangmen.  Each  of  these 
six  was  provided  with  a  white  sack,  such  as  the  Rebels  brought 
in  meal  in.  Two  Corporals  of  my  company  —  "  Stag  "  Harris 


and  Wat  Payne  — were  appointed  to  pull  the  stays  tern  under 
the  platform  at  the  signal 

A  l;ttle  after  noon  the  South  Gate  opened,  aad  Wizz  jode  in, 
dressed  in  a  suit  of  white  duck,  and  [mounted  oa  his  white 
horse  —  a  conjunction  which  had  gained  for  tern  the  appella 
tion  of  "  Death  on  a  Pale  Horse."  Behind  him  walked  the 
faithful  old  priest,  wearing  his  Church's  purple  insignia  of  the 
deepest  sorrow,  and  reading  the  service  for  the  condemned. 
The  six  doomed  men  followed,  walking  between  double  ranks 
of  Rebel  guards. 

AH  came  inside  the  hollow  square  and  baited.  Wirz  then 
said: 

"  Brizners,  I  return  to  you  dese  men  so  goot  as  I  got  dem, 
You  haf  tried  dem  yourselves,  and  found  dein  guilty.  I  haf 
had  netting  to  do  wit  it.  I  vash  my  hands  of  eferyting  con 
nected  wit  dem.  Do  wit  dem  as  yoa  like,  and  may  Gott  haf 
mercy  on  you  and  on  dem.  GartsJ  about  facel  Vorwarts, 
march  1 " 

With  this  he  marched  out  and  left  us. 

EOT  a  moment  the  condemned  looked  stunned.  They  seemed 
to  comprehend  for  the  first  time  that  it  was  really  the  deter 
mination  of  the  Regulators  to  hang  them.  Before  that  they  had 
evidently  thought  that  the  talk  of  hanging  was  merely  bluff. 
One  of  them  gasped  out : 

"  My  God,  men,  you  don't  really  mean  to  hang  us  up  there !" 

Key  answered  grimly  and  laconically : 

"  That  seems  to  be  about  the  size  of  it." 

At  this  they  burst  out  in  a  passionate  storm  of  intercessions 
and  imprecations,  which  lasted  for  a  minute  or  so,  when  it 
was  stopped  by  one  of  them  saying  imperatively  : 

"  All  of  you  stop  now,  and  let  the  priest  talk  for  us." 

At  this  the  priest  closed  the  book  upon  which  he  had  kept 
his  eyes  bent  since  his  entrance,  and  facing  the  multitude  on 
the  North  Side  began  a  plea  for  mercy. 

The  condemned  faced  in  the  same  direction,  to  read  their 
fate  in  the  countenances  of  those  whom  he  was  addressing. 
This  movement  brought  Curtis  —  a  low-statured.  massively 
built  man  —  on  the  right  of  their  line,  and  about  len  or  fifteen 
gteps  from  iny  company, 


A  iTOET  OF  EEBEL  MILITAET  PRISONS.  247 

The  whole  camp  had  been  as  still  as  death  since  TTirz's  exit. 
The  silence  seemed  to  become  even  more  profound  as  the  priest 
began  his  appeal.  For  a  minute  every  ear  was  strained  to 
catch  what  he  said.  Then,  as  the  nearest  of  the  thousands 
comprehended  what  he  was  saying  they  raised  a  shout  of 

"  No  !  no  !!  NO  1 !  " 

"  Hang  them  !  hang  them  I  * 

«  Don't  let  them  go !     Never ! " 

"Hang  the  rascals !  hang  the  villains ! " 

"  Hang  'em !  hang  'em !  hang  'em !  " 

This  was  taken  up  all  over  the  prison,  and  tens  of  thousands 
throats  yelled  it  in  a  fearful  chorus. 

Curtis  turned  from  the  crowd  with  desperation  convulsing 
his  features.  Tearing  off  the  broad-brimmed  hat  which  he 
wore,  he  flung  it  on  the  ground  with  the  exclamation  : 

"  By  God,  I'll  die  this  way  first ! "  and,  drawing!  his  head 
down  and  folding  his  arms  about  it,  he  dashed  forward  for 
the  center  of  my  company,  like  a  great  stone  hurled  from  a 
catapult. 

"  Egypt "  and  I  saw  where  he  was  going  to  strike,  and  ran 
down  the  line  to  help  stop  him.  As  he  came  up  we  rained 
blows  on  his  head  with  our  clubs,  but  so  many  of  us  struck  at 
him  at  once  that  we  broke  each  others  clubs  to  pieces,  and 
only  knocked  him  on  his  knees.  He  rose  with  an  almost  super 
human  effort,  and  plunged  into  the  mass  beyond. 

The  excitement  almost  became  delirium.  For  an  instant  I 
feared  that  everything  was  gone  to  ruin.  "  Egypt "  and  I  strained 
every  energy  to  restore  our  lines,  before  the  break  could  be 
taken  advantage  of  by  the  others.  Our  boys  behaved  splen 
didly,  standing  firm,  and  in  a  few  seconds  the  line  \va& 
restored. 

As  Curtis  broke  through,  Delaney,  a  brawny  Irishman  stand 
ing  next  to  him.  started  to  follow.  He  took  one  step.  At  the 
same  instant  Limber  Jim's  long  legs  took  three  great  strides, 
and  placed  him  directly  in  front  of  Delaney.  Jim's  right  hand 
held  an  enormous  bowie-knife,  and  as  he  raised  it  above 
Delaney  he  hissed  out : 

"  If  you  dare  move  another  step,  you ,  I'll 

open  you  from  one  end  to  the  other.'5 


24:8 

Delaney  stopped.  This  checked  the  others  till  our  line* 
reformed. 

"When  TVirz  saw  the  commotion  he  was  panic-stricken  with 
fear  that  the  long-dreaded  assault  on  the  Stockade  had  begun. 
He  ran  down  from  the  headquarter  steps  to  the  Captain  of  the 
battery,  shrieking 

"Fire!  fire!  fire!" 

The  Captain,  not  being  a  fool,  could  see  that  the  rush  was  not 
towards  the  Stockade,  but  away  from  it,  and  he  refrained  from 
giving  the  order. 

But  the  spectators  who  had  gotten  before  the  guns,  heard 
"Wirz's  excited  yell,  and  remembering  the  consequences  to  them 
selves  should  the  artillery  be  discharged,  became  frenzied  with 
fear,  and  screamed,  and  fell  down  over  and  trampled  upon  each 
other  in  endeavoring  to  get  away.  The  guards  on  that  side  of 
the  Stockade  ran  down  in  a  panic,  and  the  ten  thousand  pris 
oners  immediately  around  us,  expecting  no  less  than  that  the 
next  instant  we  would  be  swept  with  grape  and  canister,  stam 
peded  tumultuously.  There  were  quite  a  number  of  wells*  right 
around  us,  and  all  of  these  were  filled  full  of  men  that  fell  into 
them  as  the  crowd  rushed  away.  Many  had  legs  and  arms  bro 
ken,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  several  were  killed. 

It  was  the  stormiest  five  minutes  that  I  ever  saw. 

While  this  was  going  on  two  of  my  company,  belonging  to 
the  Fifth  Iowa  Cavalry,  were  in  hot  pursuit  of  Curtis.  I  had 
seen  tVsm.  start  and  shouted  to  them  to  come  back,  as  I  feared 
they  would  be  set  upon  by  the  Eaiders  and  murdered.  But 
the  din  was  so  overpowering  that  they  could  not  hear  me,  and 
doubtless  would  not  have  come  back  if  they  had  heard. 

Curtis  ran  diagonally  down  the  hill,  jumping  over  the  tents 
and  knocking  down  the  men  who  happened  in  his  way.  Arriv 
ing  at  the  swamp  he  plunged  in,  sinking  nearly  to  his  hips  in 
the  fetid,  filthy  0026.  He  forged  his  way  through  with  terrible 
effort'.  His  pursuers  followed  his  example,  and  caught  up  to 
him  just  as  he  emerged  on  the  other  side.  They  struck  him  on 
the  back  of  the  head  with  their  clubs,  and  knocked  him  down. 

By  this  time  order  had  been  restored  about  us.  The  guns 
remained  silent,  and  the  crowd  massed  around  us  again.  From 
where  we  were  we  could  see  the  successful  end  of  the  chase 


A  8TOKT  0*  EEBEL  MIL1TABT  PBISOWS. 

after  Curtis,  and  could  see  his  captors  start  back  with  him. 
Their  success  was  announced  with  a  roar  of  applause  from  the 
North  Side.  Both  captors  and  captured  were  greatly  ex 
hausted,  and  they  were  coming  back  very  slowly.  Key  ordered 
the  balance  up  on  to  the  scaffold.  They  obeyed  promptly. 
The  priest  resumed  his  reading  of  the  service  for  the  condemned. 
The  excitement  seemed  to  make  the  doomed  ones  exceedingly 
thirsty.  I  never  saw  men  drink  such  inordinate  quantities  of 
water.  They  called  for  it  continually,  gulped  down  a  quart  or 
more  at  a  time,  and  kept  two  men  going  nearly  all  the  time 
carrying  it  to  them. 

When  Curtis  finally  arrived,  he  sat  on  the  ground  for  a  rain- 
nte  or  so,  to  rest,  and  then,  reeking  with  filth,  slowly  and  pain 
fully  climbed  the  steps.  Delaney  seemed  to  think  he  was 
suffering  as  much  from  fright  as  anything  else,  and  said  to 
him  : 

"  Come  on  up,  now,  show  yourself  a  man,  and  die  game." 

Again  the  priest  resumed  his  reading,  but  it  had  no  interest 
to  Delaney,  who  kept  coiling  out  directions  to  Pete  Donelly, 
who  was  standing  in  the  crowd,  as  to  dispositions  to  be  made 
of  certain  bits  of  stolen  property  :  to  give  a  watch  to  this  one, 
a  ring  to  another,  and  so  on.  Once  the  priest  stopped  and 
said: 

"  My  son,  let  the  things  of  this  earth  go,  and  turn  your  atten 
tion  toward  those  of  heaven." 

Delaney  paid  no  attention  to  this  admonition.  The  whole 
six  then  began  delivering  farewell  messages  to  those  in  the 
crowd.  Key  pulled  a  watch  from  his  pocket  and  said : 

"  Two  minutes  more  to  talk." 

Delaney  said  cheerfully  : 

"  Well,  good  by,  b'ys ;  if  I've  hurted  any  of  yez,  I  hope  ye'll 
forgive  me.  Shpake  up,  now,  any  of  yez  that  I've  hurted,  and 
say  ye7 11  forgive  me." 

We  called  upon  Marion  Friend,  whose  throat  Delaney  had 
tried  to  cut  three  weeks  before  while  robbing  him  of  forty 
dollars,  to  come  forward,  but  Friend  was  not  in  a  forgiving 
mood,  and  refused  with  an  oath. 

Key  said : 

"  Time's  up  1" 


250  ASDER80NTILLBL 

pnt  the  watch  back  in  his  pocket  and  raised  his  hand  like  an 
officer  commanding  a  gun.  Harris  and  Payne  laid  hold  of  the 
ropes  to  the  supports  of  the  planks.  Each  of  the  six  hangmen 
tied  a  condemned  man's  hands,  pulled  a  meal  sack  down  over 
his  head,  placed  the  noose  around  his  neck,  drew  it  up  tolerably 
close,  and  sprang  to  the  ground.  The  priest  began  praying 
aloud. 

Key  dropped  his  hand.  Payne  and  Harris  snatched  the  sup 
ports  out  with  a  single  jerk.  The  fplanks  fell  with  a  clatter. 
Five  of  the  bodies  swung  around  dizzily  in  the  air.  The  sixth 
—  that  of  "  Mosby,"  a  large,  powerful,  raw-boned  man,  one  of 
the  worst  in  the  lot,  and  who,  among  other  crimes,  had  killed 
Limber  Jim's  brother — broke  the  rope,  and  fell  with  a  thud  to 
the  ground.  Some  of  the  men  ran  forward,  examined  the 
body,  and  decided  that  he  still  lived.  The  rope  was  cut  off  his 
neck,  the  meal  sack  removed,  and  water  thrown  in  his  face  until 
consciousness  returned.  At  the  first  instant  he  thought  he  was 
m  eternity.  He  gasped  out : 

"  Where  am  I  ?    Am  I  in  the  other  world  ? " 

Limber  Jim  muttered  that  they  would  soon  show  him  where 
he  was,  and  went  on  grimly  fixing  up  the  scaffold  anew. 
"  Mosby  "  soon  realized  what  had  happened,  and  the  unrelent 
ing  purpose  of  the  Kegulator  Chiefs.  Then  he  began  to  beg 
piteously  for  his  life,  saying : 

"  O  for  God's  sake,  do  not  put  me  up  there  again !  God  has 
spared  my  life  once.  He  meant  that  you  should  be  merciful 
to  me." 

Limber  Jim  deigned  him  no  reply.  When  the  scaffold  was 
re-arranged,  and  a  stout  rope  had  replaced  the  broken  one,  he 
pulled  the  meal  sack  once  more  over  "  Mosby's  "  head,  who 
never  ceased  his  pleadings.  Then  picking  up  the  large  man  as 
if  he  were  a  baby,  he  carried  him  to  the  scaffold  and  handed 
him  up  to  Tom  Larkin,  who  fitted  the  noose  around  his  neck 
and  sprang  down.  The  supports  had  not  been  set  with  the 
same  delicacy  as  at  first,  and  Limber  Jim  had  to  set  his  heel 
and  wrench  desperately  at  them  before  he  could  force  them 
out.  Then  "  Mosby  "  passed  away  without  a  struggle. 

After  hanging  till  life  was  extinct,  the  bodies  were  cut  down, 
the  saealsacks  pulled  off  their  faces,  and  the  Regulators  formed 


4  STORY  OF  REBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS.  251 

two  parallel  lines,  through  which  all  the  prisoners  passed  and 
took  a  look  at  the  bodies.  Pete  Donnelly  and  Dick  Allen  kne-1^ 
down  and  wiped  the  froth  off  Delaners  lips,  and  swore  ven 
geance  against  those  who  had  done  him  to  death. 


CHAPTER  TXXYITL 


AFTER     THE     EXECUTION FORMATION    OF     A     POLICE     FOBCE ITB 

u 


After  the  executions  Key,  knowing  that  he,  and  all  those  promi 
nently  connected  with  the  hanging,  would  be  in  hourly  danger 
of  assassination  if  they  regained  inside,  secured  details  as 
nurses  and  ward-masters  in  the  hospital,  and  went  outside.  In 
this  crowd  were  Key,  ^"ed  Carrigan,  Limber  Jim,  Dick 
McCullough,  the  six  hangmen,  the  two  Corporals  who  pulled 
the  props  from  under  the  scaffold,  and  perhaps  some  others 
whom  I  do  not  now  remember. 

In  the  meanwhile  provision  had  been  made  for  the  future 
maintenance  of  order  in  the  prison  by  the  organization  of  a 
regular  police  force,  which  in  time  came  to -number  twelve 
hundred  men.  These  were  divided  into  companies,  under 
appropriate  officers.  Guards  were  detailed  for  certain  loca 
tions,  patrols  passed  through  the  camp  in  all  directions  contin 
ually,  and  signals  with  whistles  could  summon  sufficient  assist 
ance  to  suppress  any  disturbance,  or  carry  out  any  orders  from 
the  chief. 

The  chieftainship  was  first  held  by  Key,  but  when  he  went 
outside  he  appointed  Sergeant  A.  R.  Hill,  of  the  One  Hun 
dredth  O.  V.  I.  —  now  a  resident  of  Wauseon,  Ohio, — his  suc 
cessor.  Hill  was  one  of  the  notabilities  of  that  immense 
throng.  A  great,  broad-shouldered  giant,  in  the  prime  of  his 
manhood  —  the  beginning  of  his  thirtieth  year  —  he  was  as 
good-natured  as  big,  and  as  mild-mannered  as  brave.  He 
spoke  slowly,  softly,  and  with  a  slightly  rustic  twanir,  that  was 
very  tempting  to  a  cefiaus,  ^ss  of  sharps  to  tats*  hi?1?  up  for  a 


A  STORY  OF  REBEL  LLLJLITA&Y  PKISGbKB. 


253 


*  lubberly  greeny."     The  man  whe  did  so  Hsna'Qy  repeated  his 

error  in  sack-cloth  and  ashes. 

Hill  tirst  came  into  prominence  as  the  victor  in  the  most 

stubbornly  contested  fight  in  the  prison  history  of  Belie  Isle. 

When  the 
squad  of  the 
One  Hun 
dredth  Ohio 
—  captured  at 
limestone  Sta 
tion,  East  Ten 
nessee,  in  Sep- 


•?<-'  fc^lil^flill  -.-.-«..      ,„  ,,,-rr 

•-4-4-V  ^^'  ^£z^\  t£&27%y%* 
^i%izz^?Z&fy 


•N  -r '•    '  ~TTI:-^-JW  ••<.-    RVao  .    '   •'"'•IA-V        -    "*-  '-v          -*  -        '    -W'VV^V* 

^  -  x  i;  ^  *;  "5^3  ^  ^^-—     "  * 


•ssgjlv 


arrived     on 
Belle    Isle,    a 
,  '.^l-'f^v  certain      Jack 


Oliver,  of  the 
Nineteenth  In- 

&&.&%£$£&&#  u-ii  d  *s  p  u  t  e  d 
fistic  monarch 
of  the  Island. 
He  did  not 
bear  his  blush- 
ing  honors 


**£ 

77&7%S 


modestly;  few 

Kings  of  Muscle  can,  or  do.  The  possession  of  a  right  arm 
capable  of  knocking  an  ordinary  man  into  that  indefinite 
locality  known  as  -;  the  middle  of  next  week,"  is  something 
that  the  possessor  can  as  little  resist  showing  as  can  a  girl 
her  ih'st  solitaire  ring1.  To  know  that  one  can  certainly 
strike  a  disagreeable  fellow  out  of  time  is  pretty  sure  to  breed 
a  desire  to  do  that  thing  whenever  occasion  serves.  Jack 
Oliver  was  one  who  did  not  let  his  biceps  rust  in  inaction, 
but  thrashed  everybody  on  the  Inland  whom  he  thought 
needed  it.  and  his  ideas  as  to  those  who  should  be  included 
in  thLs  class  widened  daily,  until  it  begun  to  iip^ar  rbat  ho 
would  soon  feel  it  his  duty  to 
but  pound  everybody  on  tiie  1 


no   Lin  whipped  ULUJI 


ANDERSONVILLE.1 

One  day  his  evil  genius  led  Tn'Vn  to  abuse  a  rather  elderly  man 
belonging  to  Hill's  mess.  As  he  fired  off  his  tirade  of  con 
tumely,  Hill  said  with  more  than  his  usual  "  soft "  rusticity : 

"  Mister  —  I  —  don't  —  think  — it  —  just — right — for  —  a — 
young  —  man  —  to  —  call  —  an  —  old  —  one  —  such  —  bad  — 
Barnes." 

Jack  Oliver  turned  on  him  savagely. 

"  "Well !  may  be  you  want  to  take  it  up  ? " 

The  grin  on  Fill's  face  looked  still  more  verdant,  as  he 
answered  with  gentle  deliberation : 

"  Well  —  mister — I  — don't — go — around — a — hunting  — 
things  —  but  —  I  —  ginerally  —  take  —  care — of  —  all  —  that's 
— sent — me!" 

Jack  foamed,  but  his  fiercest  bluster  could  not  drive  that 
infantile  smile  from  Hill's  face,  nor  provoke  a  change  in  the 
calm  slowness  of  his  speech. 

It  was  evident  that  nothing  would  do  but  a  battle-royal,  and 
Jack  had  sense  enough  to  see  that  the  imperturbable  rustic  was 
likely  to  give  him  a  job  of  some  difficulty.  He  went  off  and 
came  back  with  his  clan,  while  Hill's  comrades  of  the  One 
Hundredth  gathered  around  to  insure  him  fair  play.  Jack 
pulled  off  his  coat  and  vest,  rolled  up  his  sleeves,  and  made 
other  elaborate  preparations  for  the  affray.  Hill,  without 
removing  a  garment,  said,  as  he  surveyed  him  with  a  mocking 
smile: 

"  Mister  —  you  —  seem  —  to  —  be  —  one  —  of  —  them  —  par- 
tick  — e  —  ler — fellers." 

Jack  roared  out, 

"  By ,  I'll  make  you-  partickeler  before  I  get  through  with 

you.  Kow,  how  shall  we  settle  this?  Regular  stand-up-and. 
knock-down,  or  rough  and  tumble  ? " 

If  anything  Hill's  face  was  more  vacantly  serene,  and  his 
tones  blander  than  ever,  as  he  answered : 

"  Strike  —  any  —  gait  —  that  —  suits  —  you,  —  Mister ;  —  I  — 
guess  —  I  —  will  —  be  —  able  —  to  —  keep  —  up  —  with  —  you." 

They  closed.  Hill  feinted  with  his  left,  and  as  Jack  uncov 
ered  to  guard,  he  caught  him  fairly  on  the  lower  left  ribs,  by  a 
blow  from  his  mighty  right  fist,  that  sounded  —  as  one  of  the 
by-standers  expressed  it  —  "  like  striking  a  hollow  log  with  a 

BUUlL" 


A  STOBT  OF  EEBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS.  255 

The  color  in  Jack's  face  paled.  He  did  not  seem  to  under 
stand  bow  he  had  laid  himself  open  to  such  a  pass,  and  made 
the  same  mistake,  receiving  again  a  sounding  blow  in  the  short 
ribs.  This  taught  him  nothing,  either,  for  again  he  opened  his 
guard  in  response  to  a  feint,  and  again  caught  a  blow  on  his 
luckless  left  ribs,  that  drove  the  blood  from  his  face  and  the 
breath  from  his  body.  He  reeled  back  among  his  supporters  for 
an  instant  to  breathe.  Recovering  his  wind,  he  dashed  at  HilL 
feinted  strongly  with  his  right,  but  delivered  a  terrible  kick 
against  the  lower  part  of  the  latter's  abdomen.  Both  closed 
and  fought  savagely  at  half-arm's  length  for  an  instant,  during 
which  Hill  struck  Jack  so  fairly  in  the  mouth  as  to  break  out 
three  front  teeth,  which  the  latter  swallowed.  Then  they 
clenched  and  struggled  to  throw  each  other.  Hill's  superior 
strength  and  skill  crushed  his  opponent  to  the  ground,  and  he 
fell  upon  him.  As  they  grappled  there,  one  of  Jack's  followers 
sought  to  aid  his  leader  by  catching  Hill  by  the  hair,  intending 
to  kick  him  in  the  face.  In  an  instant  he  was  knocked  down 
by  a  stalwart  member  of  the  One  Hundredth,  and  then  literally 
lifted  out  of  the  ring  by  kicks. 

Jack  was  soon  so  badly  beaten  as  to  be  unable  to  cry 
"  enough ! "  One  of  his  friends  did  that  service  for  him,  the 
fight  ceased,  and  thenceforth  Mr.  Oliver  resigned  his  pugilistic 
crown,  and  retired  to  the  shades  of  private  life.  He  died  of 
scurvy  and  diarrhea,  some  months  afterward,  in  Andersonville, 

The  almost  hourly  scones  of  violence  and  crime  that  marked 
the  days  and  nights  before  the  Regulators  began  operations  were 
now  succeeded  by  the  greatest  order.  The  prison  was  freer 
from  crime  than  the  best  governed  City.  There  were  frequent 
squabbles  and  fights,  of  course,  and  many  petty  larcenies.  Ra 
tions  of  bread  and  of  \vood,  articles  of  clothing,  and  the 
wretched  little  cans  and  half  canteens  that  formed  our  cooking 
utensils,  were  still  stolen,  but  all  these  were  in  a  sneak -thief 
way.  There  was  an  entire  absence  of  the  audacious  open-day 
robbery  and  murder  —  the  "raiding"  of  the  previous  few 
weeks.  The  summary  punishment  inflicted  on  the  condemned 
was  sufficient  to  cow  even  bolder  men  than  the  Raiders,  and 
thev  were  frightened  into  at  least  quiescence. 

Sergeant  Hill's  administration  was  vigorous,  and  secured 


256 


AHDER8ONVILLB. 


best  results.  He  became  a  judge  of  all  infractions  of  morals 
and  law,  and  sat  at  the  door  of  his  tent  to  dispense  justice  to  all 
comers,  like  the  Cadi  of  a  Mahometan  Village.  His  judicial 
methods  and  punishments  also  reminded  one  strongly  of  the 
primitive  judicature  of  Oriental  lands.  The  wronged  one  came 
before  him  and  told  his  tale :  he  had  his  blouse,  or  his  quart 
cup,  or  his  shoes,  or  his  watch,  or  his  money  stolen  during  the 
night.  The  suspected  one  was  also  summoned,  confronted  with 
his  accuser,  and  sharply  interrogated.  Hill  would  revolve  the 
stories  in  his  mind,  decide  the  innocence  or  guilt  of  the  accused, 
and  if  he  thought  the  accusation  sustained,  order  the  culprit  to 
punishment.  He  did  not  imitate  his  Mussulman  prototypes  to 
the  extent  of  bowstringing  or  decapitating  the  condemned,  nor 
did  he  cut  any  thief's  hands  off,  nor  yet  nail  his  ears  to  a  door 
post,  but  he  introduced  a  modification  of  the  bastinado  that 

made  those  who  were  punished 
by  it  even  wish  they  were  dead. 
The  instrument  used  was  what  is 
called  in  the  South  a  "  shake  "  — 
a  split  shingle,7  a  yard  or  more 
long,  and  with  one  end  whittled 
down  to  form  a  handle.  The 
culprit  was  made  to  bend  down 
until  he  could  catch  around  his 
ankles  with  his  hands.  The  part 
of  the  body  thus  brought  into 
most  prominence  was  denuded  of 
clothing  and  "spanked"  from 
one  to  twenty  times,  as  Hill 
ordered,  by  the  "  shake  "  in  some 
strong  and  willing  hand.  It  was 
very  amusing  —  to  the  bystand 
ers.  The  "spankee"  never  seemed 
to  enter  very  heartily  into  the 
mirth  of  the  occasion.  As  a  rule 
he  slept  on  his  face  for  a  week  or  so  after,  and  took  his  meals 
Standing. 

The  fear  of  the  spanking,  and  Hill's  skill  in  detecting  the 
^oilty  ones,  had  a  very  salutary  effect  upon  the  smaller  criminal*. 


''BPANKINQ"  A  THIEF. 


A  WORT  OF  REBEL  MrLXTART  PRKOITB.  B67 

The  Kaidors  who  had  been  put  into  irons  were  very  restive 
under  the  infliction,  and  begged  Hill  daily  to  release  them. 
They  professed  the  greatest  penitence,  and  promised  the  most 
exemplary  behavior  for  the  future.  Hill  refused  to  release 
them,  declaring  that  they  should  wear  the  irons  until  delivered 
up  to  our  Government. 

One  of  the  Haiders  —  named  Reffron  —  had,  shortly  after  his 
arrest,  turned  State's  evidence,  and  given  testimony  that  assisted 
materially  in  the  conviction  of  his  companions.  One  morning, 
a  week  or  so  after  the  hanging,  his  body  was  found  lying  among 
the  other  dead  at  the  South  Gate.  The  impression  made  by  the 
fingers  of  the  hand  that  had  strangled  him,  were  still  plainly 
visible  about  the  throat.  There  was  no  doubt  as  to  why  he  had 
been  killed,  or  that  the  Raiders  were  his  murderers,  but  the 
actual  perpetrators  were  never  discovered. 
17 


CHAPTEK  XXXI3L 

;JULT THE  PRISON  BECOMES  MORE  (CROWDED,  THE  WE  ATHEE  HOTTER, 

RATIONS    POORER,  AND    MOKTALITT    GREATER 60ME    OF  THK  PiLfc- 

KOMENA  OF  8UFFERINO  AND  DEATH. 

All  during  July  the  prisoners  came  streaming  in  by  hundreds 
and  thousands  from  every  portion  of  the  long  line  of  battle, 
stretching  from  the  Eastern  bank  of  the  Mississippi  to  the 
shores  of  the  Atlantic.  Over  one  thousand  squandered  by 
Sturgis  at  Guntown  came  in ;  two  thousand  of  those  captured 
in  the  desperate  blow  dealt  by  Hood  against  the  Army  of  tae 
Tennessee  on  the  22d  of  the  month  before  Atlanta ;  hundreds 
from  Hunter's  luckless  column  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  thou 
sands  from  Grant's  lines  in  front  of  Petersburg.  In  all,  seven 
thousand  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  were,  during  the 
month,  turned  into  that  seething  mass  of  corrupting  humanity 
to  be  polluted  and  tainted  by  it,  and  to  assist  in  turn  to  make 
it  fouler  and  deadlier.  Over  seventy  hecatombs  of  chosen  vic 
tims —  of  fair  youths  in  the  first  flush  of  hopeful  manhood,  at 
the  threshold  of  a  life  of  honor  to  themselves  and  of  useful 
ness  to  the  community;  beardless  boys,  rich  in  the  pricelass 
affections  of  homes,  fathers,  mothers,  sisters  and  sweethearts, 
with  minds  thrilling  with  high  aspirations  for  the  bright 
future,  were  sent  in  as  the  monthly  sacrifice  to  this  Minotaur 
of  the  Rebellion,  who,  couched  in  his  foul  lair,  slew  :,  not 
with  the  merciful  delivery  of  speedy  death,  as  his  Cretan 
prototype  did  the  annual  tribute  of  Athenian  youths  and  maidens, 
but,  gloating  over  his  prey,  doomed  them  to  lingering  destruc 
tion.  He  rotted  then*  fiesh  with  the  scurvy,  racked  their  mimia 


fl  8TOXT  OF  REBEL  MTLITABY  PRISONS.  259 

Trith  intolerable  suspense,  burned  their  bodies  with  the  slow  fire 
of  famine,  and  delighted  in  each  separate  pang,  until  they- 
sank  beneath  the  fearful  accumulation.  Theseus  —  the  de 
liverer — was  coming.  His  terrible  sword  could  be  seen  gleam 
ing  as  it  rose  and  fell  on  the  banks  of  the  James,  and  in  the' 
mountains  beyond  Atlanta,  where  he  was  hewing  his  way 
towards  them  and  the  heart  of  the  Southern  Confederacy.  But 
he  came  too  late  to  save  them.  Strike  as  swiftly  and  as  heavily 
as  he  would,  he  could  not  strike  so  hard  nor  so  sure  at  his  foes 
with  saber  blow  and  musket  shot,  as  they  could  at  the  hapless 
youths  with  the  dreadful  armament  of  starvation  and  disease. 
Though  the  deaths  were  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
seventeen  —  more  than  were  killed  at  the  battle  of  Shiloh  —  this 
left  the  number  in  the  prison  at  the  end  of  the  month  thirty-one 
thousand  six  hundred  and  seventy-eight.  Let  me  assist  the 
reader's  comprehension  of  the  magnitude  of  this  number  by 
giving  the  population  of  a  few  important  Cities,  according  to 
the  census  of  1870 : 

Cambridge,  Maw „ S9,639 

Charleston.  S.  C 48,958 

Charlestown,  Maes ....._ 28,323 

Colnmbns,   O 11,274 

Dayton,  O _ 30,473 

Fall  River,  Mas* _ 26,766 

Hartford,  Conn __ „ _ _ 37,180 

Kansas  City,  Mo 32,260 

Lawrence.  Mass 28,921 

Lynn,  Mass „ 28,233 

Memphis,  Tenn __ _ 40,2tt6 

Mobile,  Ala „ 32,034 

Paterson,    N.  J 33,579 

Portland,  Me _ 31,418 

Pveadicg,  Pa. _ 33.930 

Savannah,  Ga. 28,235 

Syracuse,  N.  Y _ 43,051 

Toledo,   O _ SI, 584 

Utica,  N.  Y _ 28,804 

WDmington,  Del 30,840 

The  number  of  prisoners  exceeded  the  whole  number  of  men 
between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and  forty -five  in  several  of  the 


JJTOKESONVILLB. 

States  and  Terrftoras  in  the  Union.  Here,  for  instance,  we 
the  returns  for  1879,  of  men  of  military  age  in  some  portions 
of»the  country: 

Arizona T r _T .......  .......... .-  n .,  ,----.   ......   ....n T 6,187 

Colorado — .~.. ..... . — . .. 15,166 

T>*Vnfli.      TT.T-.T-..  ........  ..      ......  .........  ....T,   .......       . T-T  r  1  r.  I  5,301 

florid*  .....«„._. .. . ^. 34,539 

Idaho „„„ .. 9,431 

Montana 12,418 

Nebraska 35,677 

Nerada ......... 24,763 

New  Hampshire  ............  ................. .. ..._..._......_.flO,684 

Oregoa . ......... 23,953 

Rhode  Island 44,377 

Vermont 62,460 

Wect  Virginia .... 76,831 

It  was  more  soldiers  than  could  be  raised  to-day,  under  strong 
pressure,  in  either  Alabama,  Arizona,  Arkansas,  California, 
Colorado,  Connecticut,  Dakota,  Delaware,  District  of  Columbia, 
Florida,  Idaho,  Louisiana,  Maine,  Minnesota,  Montana,  Nebras 
ka,  Nevada,  New  Hampshire,  New  Mexico,  Oregon,  Rhoda 
Island,  South  Carolina,  Utah,  Vermont  or  West  Virginia. 

These  thirty-one  thousand  six  hundred  and  seventy-eight 
active  young  men,  who  were  likely  to  find  the  confines  of  a 
State  too  narrow  for  them,  were  cooped  up  on  thirteen  acres 
of  ground  —  less  than  a  farmer  gives  for  play-ground  for  a  haM 
dozen  colts  or  a  small  flock  of  sheep.  There  was  hardly  room 
for  all  to  lie  down  at  night,  and  to  walk  a  few  hundred  feet  in 
any  direction  would  require  an  hours  patient  threading  of  the 
mass  of  men  and  tents. 

The  weather  became  hotter  and  hotter ;  at  midday  the  sand 
would  burn  the  hand.  The  thin  skins  of  fair  and  auburn-haired 
men  blistered  under  the  sun's  rays,  and  swelled  up  in  great 
watery  puffs,  which  soon  became  the  breeding  grounds  of  the 
hideous  maggots,  or  the  still  more  deadly  gangrene.  The 
loathsome  swamp  grew  in  rank  olfensiveness  with  every  burn 
ing  hour.  The  pestilence  literally  stalked  at  noon-day,  and 
struck  his  victims  down  on  every  hand.  One  could  not  look  a 
rod  in  any  direction  without  seeing  at  least  a  doze^  T&&SN  in  tha 
last  frightful  stages  of  rotting  Death. 


A  8TOET  OF  EXBKL  MTLITJLEY  PRISONS. 


261 


Let  me  describe  the  scene  immediately  around  my  own  tent 
during  the  last  two  weeks  of  July,  as  a  sample  of  the  con 
dition  of  the  whole  prison :  I  will  take  a 
space  not  larger  than  a  good  sized  parlor  or 
sitting  room.  On  this  were  at  least  fifty 
of  us.  Directly  in  front  of  me  lay  two 
brothers  —  named  Sherwood — belonging  to 
Company  I,  of  my  battalion,  who  came 
originally  from  Missouri.  They  were  now 
in  the  last  stages  of  scurry  and  diarrhea. 
Every  particle  of  muscle  and  fat  about 
their  limbs  and  bodies  had  apparently 
wasted  away,  leaving  the  skin  clinging 
close  to  the  bone  of  the  face,  arms,  hands, 
ribs  and  thighs  —  everywhere  except  the 
feet  and  legs,  where  it  was  swollen  tense 
and  transparent,  distended  with  gallons  of 
purulent  matter.  Their  livid  gums,  from 
which  most  of  their  teeth  had  already 
fallen,  protruded  far  beyond  their  lips.  To 
their  left  lay  a  Sergeant  and  two  others  of 
their  company,  all  three  slowly  dying  from 
diarrhea,  and  beyond  was  a  fair-haired  German,  young  and 
intelligent  looking,  whose  life  was  ebbing  tediously  away. 
To  my  right  was  a  handsome  young  Sergeant  of  an  Illinois 
Infantry  .Regiment,  captured  at  Kenesaw.  His  left  arm  had 
been  amputated  between  the  shoulder  and  elbow,  and  he 
was  turned  into  the  Stockade  with  the  stump  all  undressed, 
gave  the  limiting  u:  the  arteries.  Of  course,  he  had  not  been 
inside  an  ii<;ur  until  the  maggot  Hies  had  laid  egg-s  in  the  open 
wound,  and  before  the  day  was  gone  the  worms  were  hatched 
out,  and  rioting  amid  the  intiamed  and  super-sensitive  nerves, 
where  their  every  motion  was  agony.  Accustomed  as  we 
were  to  misery,  we  found  a  stiil  lower  depth  in  his  misfortune, 
and  I  would  be  happier  could  I  forget  his  pale,  drawn  face,  as 
he  wandered  uncomplainingly  to  and  fro,  holding  his  maimed 
limb  with  his  right  hand,  occasionally  stopping  to  squeeze  it,  as 
one  does  a  boil,  and  press  from  it  a  stream  of  maggots  and  pus. 
I  do  not  think-  he  ace  or  slept  lor  a  week  before  he  died.  Next 


WOUNDED  LLLINOIS  SSR- 
6KANT. 


2G2 


to  him  staid  an  Irish  Sergeant  of  a  New  York  Regiment,  a  fine 
soldierly  man,  who,  with  pardonable  pride,  wore,  conspicuously 
on  his  left  breast,  a  medal  gained  by  gallantry  while  a  British 
soldier  in  the  Crimea.  He  was  wasting  away  with  diarrhea, 
and  died  before  the  month  was  out. 

This  was  what  one  could  see  on  every  square  rod  of  the 
prison.  Where  I  was  was  not  only  no  worse  than  the  rest  of 
the  prison,  but  was  probably  much  better  and  healthier,  as  it 
was  the  highest  ground  inside,  farthest  from  the  Swamp,  and 
having  the  dead  line  on  two  sides,  had  a  ventilation  that  those 
nearer  the  center  could  not  possibly  have.  Yet,  with  all  these 
conditions  in  our  favor,  the  mortality  was  as  I  have  described. 

Near  us  an  exasperating  idiot, 
who  played  the  flute,  had 
established  himself.  Like  all 
poor  players,  he  affected  the 
low,  mournful  notes,  as  plaint 
ive  as  the  distant  cooing  of  the 
dove  in  lowering  weather.  He 
played  or  rather  tooted  away 
in  his  "bluest-inducing  strain 
hour  after  hour,  despite  our 
energetic  protests,  and  occa 
sional  fling  of  a  club  at  him. 
There  was  no  more  stop  to  him 
than  to  a  man  with  a  hand- 
organ,  and  to  this  day  the  low, 
sad  notes  of  a  flute  are  the  swiftest  reminder  to  me  of  those 
sorrowful,  death-laden  days. 

I  had  an  illustration  one  morning  of  how  far  decomposition 
would  progress  in  a  man's  body  before  he  died.  My  chum  and 
I  found  a  treasure-trove  in  the  streets,  in  the  shape  of  the  body 
of  a  man  who  died  during  the  night.  The  value  of  this  "  find  " 
was  that  if  we  took  it  to  the  gate,  we  would  be  allowed  to 
carry  it  outside  to  the  deadhouse,  and  on  our  way  back  have  an 
opportunity  to  pick  up  a  chunk  of  wood,  to  use  in  cooking. 
While  discussing  our  good  luck  another  party  came  up  and 
claimed  the  body.  A  verbal  dispute  led  to  one  of  blows,  in 
which  we  came  off  victorious,  and  I  hastily  caught  hold  of  the 


IDIOTIC  yLUTB-FLATBB. 


A  STORY  OF  &XBZL  MILITARY  FBIBONB. 

arm  neaf  the  elbow  to  help  bear  the  body  away.  The  skin  gave 
way  under  my  hand,  and  slipped  with  it  down  to  the  wrist,  like 
a  torn  sleeve.  It  war  sickening,  but  I  clung  to  my  prize,  and 
secured  a  very  good  chunk  of  wood  while  outside  with  it.  The 
wood  was  very  much  needed  by  my  mess,  as  our  squad  had 
Uien  had  none  for  more  than  a  week. 


CHAPTER  XL. 


BATTLE   OF  THE   22D  OF  JULY THE  ARMT   OF  THE 

ASSAULTED   FRONT  AND    REAR DEATH    OF    GENERAL    MCPHERSOH 

ASSUMPTION    OF    COMMAND    BY    GENERAL    LOGAN  —  RESULT    OF 

THE  BATTLE. 

Naturally,  we  had  a  consuming  hunger  for  news  of  what 
was  being  accomplished  by  our  armies  toward  crushing  the 
Rebellion.  Now,  more  than  ever,  had  we  reason  to  ardently 
wish  for  the  destruction  of  the  Rebel  power.  Before  capture 
we  had  love  of  country  and  a  natural  desire  for  the  triumph  of 
her  flag  to  animate  us.  Now  we  had  a  hatred  of  the  Rebels 
that  passed  expression,  and  a  fierce  longing  to  see  those  who 
daily  tortured  and  insulted  us  trampled  down  in  the  dust  of 
humiliation. 

The  daily  arrival  of  prisoners  kept  us  tolerably  well  informed 
as  to  the  general  progress  of  the  campaign,  and  we  added  to 
the  information  thus  obtained  by  getting  —  almost  daily  —  in 
some  manner  or  another  —  a  copy  of  a  Rebel  paper.  Most  fre 
quently  these  were  Atlanta  papers,  or  an  issue  of  the  "  Memphis- 
Corinth-  Jackson-Grenada-C  hat  tanooga-Resacca-Marietta-  Atlan 
ta  Appeal"  as  they  used  to  facetiously  term  a  Memphis  paper 
that  left  that  City  when  it  was  taken  in  1862,  and  for  two  years 
fell  back  from  place  to  pla<3e,  as  Sherman's  Army  advanced, 
until  at  last  it  gave  up  the  struggle  in  September,  1864,  in 
a  little  Town  south  of  Atlanta,  after  about  two  thousand  miles 
of  weary  retreat  from  an  indefatigable  pursuer.  The  papers 
were  brought  in  by  "  fresh  fish,"  purchased  from  the  guards 
at  from  fifty  cents  to  one  dollar  apiece,  or  occasionally  thrown 
tin  to  us  when  they  had  some  specially  disagreeable  intelligence, 


A  BTOET  OF  EEBEL  MTUTABY  PRISONS.  265 

like  the  defeat  of  Banks,  or  Sturgis,  or  Hunter,  to  exult  over. 
I  was  particularly  fortunate  in  getting  hold  of  these.  Becom 
ing  installed  as  general  reader  for  a  neighborhood  of  several 
thousand  men,  everything  of  this  kind  was  immediately  brought 
to  me,  to  be  read  aloud  for  the  benefit  of  everybody.  All  the 
older  prisoners  knew  me  by  the  nick-name  of  "Illinoy" —  a 
designation  arising  from  my  wearing  on  my  cap,  when  I 
entered  prison,  a  neat  little  white  metal  badge  of  "!LLS."  When 
any  reading  matter  was  brought  into  our  neighborhood,  there 
would  be  a  general  cry  of 

"Take  it  up  to  'Illinoy/" 

and  then  hundreds  would  mass  around  my  quarters  to  b  ear  the 
news  read. 

The  Rebel  papers  usually  had  very  meager  reports  of  the 
operations  of  the  armies,  and  these  were  greatly  distorted,  but 
they  were  still  very  interesting,  and  as  we  always  started  in  to 
read  with  the  expectation  that  the  whole  statement  was  a  mass 
of  perversions  and  lies,  where  truth  was  an  infrequent  accident, 
We  were  not  likely  to  be  much  impressed  with  it. 

There  was  a  marked  difference  in  the  tone  of  the  reports 
Drought  in  from  the  different  armies.  Sherman's  men  were 
always  sanguine.  They  had  no  doubt  that  they  were  pushing 
the  enemy  straight  to  the  wall,  and  that  every  day  brought  the 
Southern  Confederacy  much  nearer  its  downfall.  Those  from 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac  were  never  so  hopeful.  They  would 
admit  that  Grant  was  pounding  Lee  terribly,  but  the  shadow  of 
the  frequent  defeats  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  seemed  to 
hang  depressingly  over  them. 

There  came  a  day,  however,  when  our  sanguine  hopes  as  to 
Sherman  were  checked  by  a  possibility  that  he  had  failed ;  that 
his  long  campaign  towards  Atlanta  had  culminated  in  such  a 
reverse  under  the  very  walls  of  the  City  as  would  compel  an 
abandonment  of  the  enterprise,  and  possibly  a  humiliating 
retreat.  We  knew  that  Jeff.  Davis  and  his  Government  were 
strongly  dissatisfied  with,  the  Fabian  policy  of  Joe  Johnston. 
The  papers  had  told  us  of  the  Rebel  President's  visit  to 
Atlanta,  of  his  bitter  comments  on  Johnston's  tactics ;  of  his 
going  so  far  as  to  sneer  about  the  necessity  of  providing  pon 
toons  at  i£sy  West,  so  that  Johnston  might  continue  his  retreat 


266 

even  to  Cuba.  Then  came  the  newe  of  -Johnston's  supersession 
by  Hood,  and  the  papers  were  full  of  the  exulting  predictions 
of  what  would  now  be  accomplished  "  when  that  gallant  young 
soldier  is  once  fairly  in  the  saddle." 

All  this  meant  one  supreme  effort  to  arrest  the  onward  course 
of  Sherman.  It  indicated  a  resolve  to  stake  the  fate  of  Atlanta, 
and  the  fortunes  of  the  Confederacy  in  the  West,  upon  the 
hazard  of  one  desperate  fight.  "We  watched  the  summoning  up 
of  every  Eebel  eneagy  for  the  blow  with  apprehension.  We 
dreaded  another  Chickamauga. 

The  blow  fell  on  the  22d  of  July.  It  was  well  planned.  The 
Army  of  the  Tennessee,  the  left  of  Sherman's  forces,  was  the 
part  struck.  On  the  ragkt  of  the  21st  Hood  marched  a  heavy 
force  around  its  left  flank  and  gained  its  rear.  On  the  22d  thia 
force  fell  on  the  rear  with  the  impetuous  violence  of  a  cyclone, 
while  the  Rebek  in  the  works  immediately  around  Atlanta 
attacked  furiously  in  front. 

It  was  an  ordeal  that  no  other  army  ever  passed  through 
successfully.  The  steadiest  troops  in  Europe  would  think  it 
foolhardiness  to  attempt  to  withstand  an  assault  in  force  in 
front  and  rear  at  the  same  time.  The  finest  legions  that  follow 
any  flag  to-day  must  almost  inevitably  succumb  to  such  a  mode 
of  attack.  But  the  seasoned  veterans  of  the  Army  of  the  Ten 
nessee  encountered  the  shock  with  an  obstinacy  which  showed 
that  the  finest  material  for  soldiery  this  planet  holds  was 
that  in  which  undaunted  hearts  beat  beneath  blue  blouses.  Spring 
ing  over  the  front  of  their  breastworks,  they  drove  back  with 
a  withering  fire  the  force  assailing  them  in  the  rear.  This 
beaten  off,  they  jumped  back  to  their  proper  places,  and 
repulsed  the  assault  in  front.  This  was  the  way  the  battle  was 
waged  until  night  compelled  a  cessation  of  operations.  Our 
boys  were  alternately  behind  the  breastworks  firing  at  Rebels 
advancing  upon  the  front,  and  in  front  of  the  works  filing  upon 
those  coming  up  in  the  rear.  Somccimes  part  of  our  line  would 
be  on  one  side  of  the  works,  and  part  on  the  other. 

In  the  prisoa  we  were  greatly  excited  over  the  result  of  the 
engagement,  of  which  we  were  uncertain  for  many  days> 
A  host  of  new  prisoners  —  perhaps  two  thousand  —  was  brought 
in  from  there,  but  as  they  were  capturp^l  during  the  progress  oft 


A  BTOBT  OT  REBEL  MTLITJLRY  PRISONS. 

the  fight,  they  could  not  speak  definitely  as  to  its  issue.  The 
Rebel  papers  exulted  without  stint  over  what  they  termed  "a 
glorious  victory."  They  were  particularly  jubilant  over  the 
death  of  ILePherson,  who,  they  claimed,  was  the  brain  and 
guiding  hand  of  Sherman's  army.  One  paper  likened  him  to 
the  pilot-fish,  which  guides  the  shark  to  his  prey.  Xow  that 
he  was  gone,  said  the  paper,  Sherman's  arm}'  becomes  a  great 
lumbering  hulk,  with  no  one  in  it  capable  of  directing  it,  and 
it  must  soon  fall  to  utter  ruin  under  the  skilfully  delivered 
strokes  of  the  gallant  Hood. 

We  also  knew  that  great  numbers  of  wounded  had  beea 
brought  to  the  prison  hospital,  and  this  seemed  to  confirm  the 
Rebel  claim  of  a  victory,  as  it  showed  they  retained  possession 
of  the  battle  field. 

About  the  1st  of  August  a  large  squad  of  Sherman's  men, 
captured  in  one  of  the  engagements  subsequent  to  the  22d,  came 
in.  We  gathered  around  them  eagerly.  Among  them  I  noticed 
a  bright,  curly-haired,  blue-eyed  infantryman  —  or  boy,  rather, 
as  he  was  yet  beardless.  His  cap  was  marked  "68th  O.  Y.  V,' 
L,"  his  sleeves  were  garnished  with  rc-enlistrnent  stripes,  and  on 
the  breast  of  his  blouse  was  a  silver  arrow.  To  the  eye  of  the 
soldier  this  said  that  he  was  a  veteran  member  of  the  Sixty-Eighth 
Regiment  of  Ohio  Infantry  (that  is,  having  already  served 
three  years,  he  had  re-enlisted  for  the  war),  and  that  he  belonged 
to  the  Third  Division  of  the  Seventeenth  Army  Corps.  He 
was  so  young  and  fresh  looking  that  one  could  hardly  believe 
him  to  be  a  veteran,  but  if  his  stripes  had  not  said  this, 
the  soldierly  arrangement  of  clothing  and  accoutrements,  and 
the  graceful,  self-possessed  pose  of  limbs  and  body  would  have 
told  the  observer  that  he  was  one  of  those  "  Old  Reliables"  with 
whom  Sherman  and  Grant  had  already  subdued  a  third  of  the 
Confederacy.  His  blanket,  which,  for  a  wonder,  the  Rebels  had 
neglected  to  take  from  him,  was  tightly  rolled,  its  ends  tied 
together,  and  thrown  over  his  shoulder  scarf -fashion.  His 
pantaloons  were  tucked  inside  his  stocking  tops,  that  were 
pulled  up  as  far  as  possible,  and  tied  tightly  around  his  ankle 
with  a  string.  A  none-too-clean  haversack,  containing  the 
inevitable  sooty  quart  cup.  and  even  blacker  half -canteen,  was 
slung  easily  from  the  shoulder  opposite  to  that  on  which  the 


S6S 


AITDERSONVILLE. 


blanket  rested.  Hand  him  his  faithful  Springfield  rifle,  put 
three  davs'  rations  in  his  haversack,  and  forty  rounds  in  his 
.cartridge  box,  and  he  would  be  ready,  without  an  instant's 

demur  or  question,  to  march 
to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and 
fight  anything  that  crossed 
his  path.  He  was  a  type  of 
the  honest,  honorable,  self- 
respecting  American  boy,  who, 
as  a  soldier,  the  world  has  not 
equaled  in  the  sixty  centuries 
that  war  has  been  a  profession. 
I  suggested  to  him  that  he 
was  rather  a  youngster  to  be 
wearing  veteran  chevrons. 

"  Yes,"  said  he,  "  I  am  not 
so  old  as  some  of  the  rest  of 
the  boys,  but  I  have  seen 
about  as  much  service  and 
been  in  the  business  about  as 
long  as  any  of  them.  They 
call  me  i  Old  Dad,'  I  suppose 
because  I  was  the  youngest 
boy  in  the  Regiment,  when 
we  first  entered  the  service, 
om«  or  SHERMAN'S  "VETWUKS."  though  our  whole  Company, 
officers  and  all,  were  only  a  lot  of  boys,  and  the  Regiment  to 
day,  what's  left  of  'em,  are  about  as  young  a  lot  of  officers  and 
men  as  there  are  in  the  service.  "Why,  our  old  Colonel  ain't 
only  twenty -four  yeaTs  old  now,  and  he  lias  been  in  command  ever 
since  we  went  into  Vicksburg.  I  have  heard  it  said  by  our 
boys  that  since  we  veteranized  the  whole  Regiment,  officers, 
aad  men,  average  less  than  Uventy-four  years  old.  But  they 
are  grayhounds  to  march  and  stayers  in  a  fight,  you  bet.  Why, 
the  rest  of  the  troops  over  in  West  Tennessee  used  to  call  our 
Brigade  'Leggett's  Cavalry,'  for  they  always  had  us  chasing 
©Id  Forrest,  and  we  kept  him  skedaddling,  too,  pretty  lively. 
But  I  telJ  you  we  did  get  into  a  red  hot  scrimmage  on  the 
It  just  laid  over  Champion  Hills,  or  any  of  the  big  fighia 


1  STORY  OF  BEBEL  MLITABY  FBISOWB. 

around  Yicksbnrg,  aad  they  were  lively  enough  to  amuse  any 
one." 

"  So  you  were  in  the  affair  on  the  22d,  were  you  ?  "We  ara 
awful  anxious  to  hear  all  about  it.  Come  over  here  to  my  quais 
ters  and  tell  us  all  yon  know.  All  we  know  is  that  there  has 
been  a  big  fight,  with  McPherson  killed,  and  a  heavy  loss  ol 
life  l>esides,  and  the  Rebels  claim  a  great  victory." 

"  O,  they  be .  It  was  the  sickest  victory  they  ever  got 

About  one  more  victory  of  that  kind  would  make  their  infernaJ 
old  Confederacy  ready  for  a  coroner's  inquest.  Weil,  I  can  tel} 
you  pretty  much  all  about  that  light,  for  I  reckon  if  the  truth 
was  known,  our  regiment  fired  about  the  first  and  last  shot  thafc 
opened  and  closed  the  fighting  on  that  day.  Well,  you  see  the 
whole  Army  got  across  the  river,  and  were  closing  in  around  the 
City  of  Atlanta.  Our  Corps,  the  Seventeenth,  was  the  extremo 
left  of  the  army,  and  were  moving  up  toward  the  City  from  the 
East.  The  Fifteenth  (Logan's)  Corps  joined  us  on  the  right, 
then  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland  further  to  the  right.  We 
run  onto  the  Rebs  about  sundown  the  21st.  They  had 
some  breastworks  on  a  ridge  in  front  of  us,  and  we  had  a  pretty 
sharp  fight  before  we  drove  them  off.  We  went  right  to  work, 
and  kept  at  it  all  night  in  changing  and  strengthening  the  old 
Rebel  barricades,  fronting  them  towards  Atlanta,  and  by  morn 
ing  had  some  good  solid  works  along  our  whole  line.  During 
the  night  we  fancied  we  could  hear  wagons  or  artillery  moving 
away  in  front  of  us,  apparently  going  South,  or  towards  our 
left.  About  three  or  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  while  I  was 
shoveling  dirt  like  a  beaver  out  on  the  works,  the  Lieutenant 
came  to  me  and  said  the  Colonel  wanted  to  see  me,  pointing  to 
a  large  tree  in  the  rear,  where  I  could  find  him.  I  reported  and 
found  him  with  General  Leirgett.  \vho  commanded  our  Division, 
talking  mighty  serious,  and  Bob  Wheeler,  of  F  Company, 
standing  there  with  his  Springfield  at  a  parade  rest.  As  soon 
as  I  came  up,  the  Colonel  says : 

'"Boys,  the  General  wants  two  level-headed  chaps  to  go  out 
beyond  the  pickets  to  the  front  and  toward  the  left.  I  have 
selected  you  for  the  duty.  Go  as  quietly  as  possible  and  as  fast 
as  you  can ;  keep  your  eyes  and  ears  open ;  don't  fire  a  shot  if 
you  can  help  it,  aad  come  back  and  tell  us  exactly  what  you 


270 


AJTDERSONTTLLE. 


have  seen  and  fiewd,  and  not  what  you  imagine  or  suspect.    I 
have  selected  yor.  for  the  duty.' 

"  He  gave  us  tbe  countersign,  and  off  we  started  over  the 
breastworks  and  through  the  thick  woods.  "We  soon  came  to 
our  skirmish  or  pickets,  only  a  few  rods  in  front  of  our  works, 
and  cautioned  them  not  to  fire  on  us  in  going  or  returning.  TVo 
went  out  as  much  as  half  a  mile  or  more,  until  we  could  plainly 
hear  the  sound  of  wagons  and  artillery.  "We  then  cautiously 
crept  forward  until  we  could  see  the  main  road  leading  south 
from  the  City  filled  with  marching  men.  artillery  and  teams. 
We  could  hear  the  commands  of  the  officers  and  see  the  flags 
and  banners  of  regiment  after  regiment  as  they  passed  us. 
We  got  back  quietly  and  quickly,  passed  through  our  picket 
line  all  right,  and  found  the  General  and  our  Colonel  sitting  on 
a  log  where  we  had  left  them,  waiting  for  us.  TVe  reported 
what  we  had  seen  and  heard,  and  gave  it  as  our  opinion 

that  the  Johnnies  were 
evacuating  At  1  a  n  t  a . 
The  General  shook  his 
head,  and  the  Colonel 
says:  'You  may  re 
turn  to  your  company.' 
Bob  says  to  me : 

"'The    old     General 
shakes      his     head     as 
though  he  thought  them 
d — d  Rebs  ain't  evacu 
ating  Atlanta  so  mighty 
sudden,  bin    are  up   to 
some   devilment   again. 
I   ain't    sure    but   he's 
right.     They  aint  going 
to  keep  falling  back  and 
falling  back  to  all  eter 
nity,  but  are  just  agoin'  to  give  us  a  rip-roaring  great  big  fight 
one  o'  these  days  —  when  they  get  a  good  ready.  You  hear  me  ! ' 
"  Saying  which  we  both  went  to  our  companies,  and  laid  down 
to  get  a  little  sleep.     It  was  about  daylight  then,  and  I  must 
have  snoozed  away  until  near  noon,  when  I  heard  the  order 


A  STOBY  O7  EEBETL  KTLITAKY  PBISOXB,  271 

'faH  in  I '  and  found  the  regiment  getting  into  line,  and  the  hoys 
all  talking  about  going  right  into  Atlanta  ;  that  the  Rebels  had 
evacuated  the  City  during  the  night,  and  that  we  were  going 
to  have  a  race  with  the  Fifteenth  Corps  as  to  which  would  get 
into  the  City  first.  We  could  look  away  out  across  a  largo 
field  in  front  of  our  works,  and  see  the  skirmish  line  advancing 
steadily  towards  the  main  works  around  the  City.  K  ot  a  shot 
was  being  fired  on  either  side. 

"  To  our  surprise,  instead  of  marching  to  the  front  and  toward 
the  City,  we  filed  off  into  a  small  road  cut  through  the  woods 
and  marched  rapidly  to  the  rear.  "We  could  not  understand 
what  it  meant.  We  marched  at  quick  time,  feeling  pretty  mad 
that  we  had  to  go  to  the  rear,  when  the  rest  of  our  Division 
were  going  into  Atlanta. 

"  We  passed  the  Sixteenth  Corps  lying  on  their  arms,  back 
in  some  open  fields,  and  the  wagon  trains  of  our  Corps  ail 
comfortably  corralled,  and  finally  found  ourselves  out  by  the 
Seventeenth  Corps  headquarters.  Two  or  three  companies 
were  sent  out  to  picket  several  roads  that  seemed  to  cross  at 
that  point,  as  it  was  reported  '  Rebel  Cavalry '  had  been  seen  on 
these  roads  but  a  short  time  before,  and  this  accounted  for  our 
being  rushed  out  in  such  a  great  hurry. 

"  We  had  just  stacked  arms  and  were  going  to  take  a  little 
rest  after  our  rapid  march,  when  several  Rebel  prisoners  \vero 
brought  in  by  some  of  the  boys  who  had  straggled  a  little. 
They  found  the  Rebels  on  the  road  we  had  just  marched  out  on. 
Up  to  this  time  not  a  shot  had  been  fired.  All  was  quiet  back 
at  the  main  works  we  had  just  left,  when  suddenly  we  saw 
several  stall  officers  come  tearing  up  to  the  Colonel,  who  ordered 
us  to  'fall  in!'  'take  arms!'  'about,  face!'  The  Lieutenant 
Colonel  dashed  down  one  of  the  roads  where  one  of  the  com 
panies  had  gone  out"  on  picket.  The  Major  and  Adjutant 
galloped  down  the  others.  We  did  not  wait  for  them  to  come 
back,  though,  but  moved  right  back  on  the  road  we  had  just 
come  out.  in  line  of  battle,  our  colors  in  the  road,  and  our  flanks 
in  open  timber.  We  soon  reached  a  fence  enclosing  a  large 
field,  and  there  could  see  a  line  of  Rebels  moving  by  the  flank, 
and  forming,  facing  toward  Atlanta,  but  to  the  left  and  in  the 
rear  of  the  position  occupied  by  our  Corps,  As  soon  as  we 


272 

reached  the  fence  we  fired  a  round  or  two  into  the  backs  of 
these  gray  coats,  who  broke  into  confusion. 

"  Just  then  the  other  companies  joined  us.  and  we  moved  off 
on  '  double  quick  by  the  right  flank,'  for  you  see  we  were  com 
pletely  cut  off  from  the  troops  up  at  the  front,  and  we  had  to 
get  well  over  to  the  right  to  get  around  the  flank  of  the  Rebels. 
Just  about  the  time  we  fired  on  the  Rebels  the  Sixteenth  Corps 
opened  up  a  hot  fire  of  musketry  and  artillery  on  them,  some 
of  their  shot  coming  over  mighty  close  to  where  we  were.  We 
marched  pretty  fast,  and  finally  turned  in  through  some  open 
Selds  to  the  left,  and  came  out  just  in  the  rear  of  the  Sixteenth 
Corps,  who  were  fighting  like  devils  along-  their  whole  line. 

"  Just  as  we  came  out  into  the  open  field  we  saw  General  R. 
K.  Scott,  who  used  ta  be  our  Colonel,  and  who  commanded  our 
brigade,  come  tearing  toward  us  with  one  or  two  aids  or  order 
lies.  He  was  on  his  big  clay-bank  horse,  '  Old  Hatchie,'  as  we 
called  him,  as  we  captured  him  on  the  battlefield  at  the  battle 
of  '  Matamora,'  or  '  Hell  on  the  Hatchie,'  as  our  boys  always 
called  it.  He  rode  up  to  the  Colonel,  said  something  hastily, 
when  all  at  once  we  heard  the  all-firedest  crash  of  musketry  and 
artillery  way  up  at  the  front  where  we  had  built  the  works  the 
night  before  and  left  the  rest  of  our  brigade  and  Division  get- 
ting  ready  to  prance  into  Atlanta  when  we  were  sent  off  to  the 
rear.  Scott  put  spurs  to  his  old  horse,  who  was  one  of  the  fast 
est  runners  in  our  Division,  and  away  he  went  back  towards  the 
position  where  his  brigade  and  the  troops  immediately  to  their 
left  were  now  hotly  engaged.  He  rode  right  along  in  rear  of  the 
Sixteenth  Corps,  paying  no  attention  apparently  to  the  shot  and 
shell  and  bullets  that  were  tearing  up  the  earth  and  exploding 
and  striking  all  around  him.  His  aids  and  orderlies  vainly 
tried  to  keep  up  with  him.  We  could  plainly  see  the  Rebel 
lines  as  they  came  out  of  the  woods  into  the  open  grounds  to 
attack  the  Sixteenth  Corps,  which  had  hastily  formed  in  the 
open  field,  without  any  signs  of  works,  and  were  standing  up 
like  men,  having  a  hand-to-hand  fight.  We  were  just  far  enough, 
in  the  rear  so  that  every  blasted  shot  or  shell  that  was  fired  too 
high  to  hit  the  ranks  of  the  Sixteenth  Corps  came  rattling 
over  amongst  us.  All  this  time  we  were  marching  fast,  follow 
ing  in  the  direction  General  Scott  had  taken,  who  evidently  had 


A  flTOBT  OF  EEBEL  MELITABY  PRISONS. 


273 


ordered  the  Colonel  to  join  his  brigade  up  at  the  front.  "We 
were  down  under  the  crest  of  a  little  hill,  following  along  the 
bank  of  a  little  creek,  keeping  under  cover  of  the  bank  as  much 
as  possible  to  protect  us  from  the  shots  of  the  enemy.  "We 
suddenly  saw  General  Logan  and  one  or  two  of  his  staff  upon 


~        fe^Jfc, 


LOO  AX  TAKING  COMMAND  OF  THE  AKMT  OF  THE  TENNESSEE. 

the  right  bank  of  the  ravine  riding  rapidly  toward  us.     As  ne- 

neared  the  head  of  the  regiment  he  shouted  : 

"  <  Halt !  What  regiment  is  that,  and  where  are  you  going  ? ' 
"  The  Colonel,  in  a  loud  voice,  that  all  could  hear,  told  Him  : 
"  The  Sixty-Eighth  Ohio ;  going  to  join  our  brigade  of  the 

Third  Division  —  your  old  Division,  General,  of  the  Seventeenth 

Corps." 

"  Logan  says,  '  you  had  better  go  right  in  here  on  the  left  of 

Dodge.     The  Third  Division  have  hardly  ground  enough  left 

now  to  bury  their  dead.     God  knows  they  need  you.     But  try  it 

on,  if  you  think  you  can  get  to  them.' 

"  J  VLSI  at  this  moment  a  staff  officer  came  riding  up  on  the 
IS 


274  AJTDEKSONVILLE. 

opposite  side  of  the  ravine  from  where  Logan  was  and  inter 
rupted  Logan,  who  was  about  telling  the  Colonel  not  to  try  to 
go  to  the  position  held  by  the  Third  Division  by  the  road  cut 
through  the  \voods  whence  we  had  come  out,  but  to  keep  oil  to 
the  right  to  wards  the  Fifteenth  Corps,  as  the  woods  referred  to 
were  full  of  Rebels.  The  officer  saluted  Logan,  and  shouted 
across: 

"  '  General  Sherman  directs  me  to  inform  you  of  the  death  of 
General  McPherson,  and  orders  you  to  take  command  of  the 
Army  of  the  Tennessee;  have  Dodge  close  well  up  to  the 
Seventeenth  Corps,  and  Sherman  will  reinforce  you  to  the 
extent  of  the  whole  army.' 

"Logan,  standing  in  his  stirrups,  on  his  beautiful  black  horse, 
formed  a  picture  against  the  blue  sky  as  we  looked  up  the 
ravine  at  him,  his  black  eyes  fairly  blazing  and  his  long  black 
hair  waving  in  the  wind.  He  replied  in  a  ringing,  clear  tone 
that  we  all  could  hear : 

"'Say  to  General  Sherman  I  have  heard  of  McPherson's 
death,  and  have  assumed  the  command  of  the  Army  of  the 
Tennessee,  and  have  already  anticipated  his  orders  in  regard  to 
closing  the  gap  between  Dodge  and  the  Seventeenth  Corps.' 

"  This,  of  course,  all  happened  in  one  quarter  of  the  time  I 
have  been  telling  you.  Logan  put  spurs  to  his  horse  and  rode 
in  one  direction,  the  staff  officer  of  General  Sherman  in  another, 
and  we  started  on  a  rapid  step  toward  the  front.  This  was  the 
first  we  had  heard  of  McPherson's  death,  and  it  made  us  feel 
very  bad.  Some  of  the  officers  and  men  cried  as  though  they 
had  lost  a  brother ;  others  pressed  their  lips,  gritted  their  teeth, 
and  swore  to  avenge  his  death.  He  was  a  great  favorite  with 
all  his  Army,  particularly  of  our  Corps,  which  he  commanded 
for  a  long  while.  Our  company,  especially,  knew  him  well, 
and  loved  him  dearly,  for  we  had  been  his  Headquarters  Guard 
for  over  a  year.  As  we  inarched  along,  toward  the  front,  we 
could  see  brigades,  and  regiments,  and  batteries  of  artillery, 
coming  over  from  the  right  of  the  Army,  and  taking  position 
in  new  lines  in  rear  of  the  Sixteenth  and  Seventeenth  Corps. 
Major  Generals  and  their  staffs,  Brigadier  Generals  and  their 
staffs,  were  mighty  thick  along  the  banks  of  the  little  ravine 
we  were  following;  stragglers  and  wounded  men  by  tiia 


.fA  8TOET  OJ  REBEL  MILITAItY  PBISON3.  275 

^hundred  were  pouring  in  to  the  safe  shelter  formed  by  the 
broken  ground  along  which  we  were  rapidly  marching ;  stories 
were  heard  of  divisions,  brigades  and  regiments  that  these 
wounded  or  stragglers  belonged,  having  been  all  cut  to  pieces  ; 
officers  all  killed ;  and  the  speaker,  the  only  one  of  his  command 
not  killed,  wounded  or  captured.  But  you  boys  have  heard  and 
seen  the  same  cowardly  sneaks,  probably,  in  fights  that  you 
were  in.  The  battle  raged  furiously  all  this  tune ;  part  of  the 
time  the  Sixteenth  Corps  seemed  to  be  in  the  worst ;  then  it 
would  let  up  on  them  and  the  Seventeenth  Corps  would  be 
hotly  engaged  along  their  whole  front. 

"  We  had  probably  marched  half  an  hour  since  leaving  Logan, 
and  were  getting  pretty  near  back  to  our  main  line  of  works, 
when  the  Colonel  ordered  a  halt  and  knapsacks  to  be  unslung 
and  piled  up.  I  tell  you  it  was  a  relief  to  get  them  off,  for  it 
was  a  fearful  hot  day,  and  we  had  been  marching  almost  double 
quick.  We  knew  that  this  meant  business  though,  and  that  we 
were  stripping  for  the  fight,  which  we  would  soon  be  in.  Just 
at  this  moment  we  saw  an  ambulance,  with  the  horses  on  a  dead 
run,  followed  by  two  or  three  mounted  officers  and  men,  coming 
right  towards  us  out  of  the  very  woods  Logan  had  cautioned 
the  Colonel  to  avoid.  When  the  ambulance  got  to  where  we 
were  it  halted.  It  was  pretty  well  out  of  danger  from  the 
bullets  and  shell  of  the  enemy.  They  stopped,  and  we  recog 
nized  Major  Strong,  of  McPherson's  Staff,  whom  we  all  knew, 
as  he  was  the  Chief  Inspector  of  our  Corps,  and  in  the  ambu 
lance  he  had  the  body  of  General  McPherson.  Major  Strong, 
it  appears,  during  a  slight  lull  in  the  fighting  at  that  part  of 
the  line,  having  taken  an  ambulance  and  driven  into  the  very 
jaws  of  death  to  recover  the  remains  of  his  loved  commander. 
It  seems  he  found  the  body  right  by  the  side  of  the  little  road 
that  we  had  gone  out  on  when  we  went  to  the  rear.  He  was 
dead  when  he  found  him,  having  been  shot  off  his  horse,  the 
bullet  striking  him  in  the  back,  just  below  his  heart,  probably 
killing  him  instantly.  There  was  a  young  fellow  with  him  who 
was  wounded  also,  when  Strong  found  them.  lie  belonged  to 
our  First  Division,  and  recognized  General  McPherson,  and 
stood  by  him  until  Major  Strong  came  up.  He  was  in  the 
ambulance  with  the  body  of  McPherson  when  the)  stopped  bj'  113. 


276 


A2TDKBSONVILL2. 


"It  seems  that  when  the  fight  opened  away  back  in  the  rear 
where  we  had  beea,  and  at  the  left  of  the  Sixteenth  Corps> 
which  was  almost  directiy  ia  the  rear  of  the  Seventeenth  Corps^ 
McPherson  sent  his  staff  and  orderlies  with  various  orders  to 


DEATH  OF  M'PHERSON. 

different  parts  of  the  line,  and  started  himself  to  ride  over 
from  the  Seventeenth  Corps  to  the  Sixteenth  Corps,  taking 
exactly  the  same  course  otir  Regiment  had,  perhaps  an  hour 
before,  bnt  the  Rebels  had  discovered  there  was  a  gap  between 
the  Sixteenth  and  Seventeenth  Corps,  and  meeting  no  opposi 
tion  to  their  advances  in  this  strip  of  woods,  where  they  were 
hidden  from  view,  they  had  marched  right  along  down  in  the 
rear,  and  with  their  line  at  right  angles  with  the  line  of  works 
occupied  by  the  left  of  the  Seventeenth  Corps ;  they  were  thus 
parallel  and  close  to  tlie  little  road  McPherson  had  taken,  and 
probably  h«?  rode  rigUt  into  them  and  was  killed  before  he  real 
ized  the  true  situation. 


A  STORY  OF  REBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS.  277 

u  Having  piled  our  knapsacks,  and  left  a  couple  of  our  older 
men,  who  were  played  out  with  the  heat  and  most  ready  to 
drop  with  sunstroke,  to  guard  them,  we  started  on  again.  The 
ambulance  with  the  corpse  of  Gen.  McPherson  moved  oil 
towards  the  right  of  the  Army,  which  was  the  la#t  we  ever  saw 
of  that  brave  and  handsome  soldier. 

"  We  bore  off  a  little  to  the  right  of  a  large  open  field  on  top 
of  a  high  hill  where  one  of  our  batteries  was  pounding  away  at 
a  tremendous  rate.  We  came  up  to  the  main  line  of  works  just 
about  at  the  left  of  the  Fifteenth  Corps.  They  seemed  to  be 
having  an  easy  time  of  it  just  then  —  no  fighting  going  on  in 
their  front,  except  occasional  shots  from  some  heavy  guns  on ' 
the  main,  line  of  Rebel  works  around  the  City.  We  crossed 
right  over  the  Fifteenth  Corps'  works  and  filed  to  the  left, 
keeping  along  on  the  outside  of  our  works.  We  had  not  gone 
far  before  the  Rebel  gunners  in  the  main  works  around  the 
City  discovered  us ;  and  the  way  they  did  tear  loose  at  us  was  a 
caution.  Their  aim  was  rather  bad,  however,  and  most  of  their 
shots  went  over  us.  We  saw  one  of  them  —  I  think  it  was  a 
shell  —  strike  an  artillery  caisson  belonging  to  one  of  our  bat 
teries.  It  exploded  as  it  struck,  and  then  the  caisson,  which 
was  full  of  ammunition,  exploded  with  an  awful  noise,  throw 
ing  pieces  of  wood  and  iron  and  its  own  load  of  shot  and  shell 
high  into  the  air,  scattering  death  and  destruction  to  the  men 
and  horses  attached  to  it.  We  thought  we  saw  arms  and  legs 
and  parts  of  bodies  of  men  flying  in  every  direction ;  but  we 
were  glad  to  learn  afterwards  that  it  was  the  contents  of  the 
knapsacks  of  the  Battery  boys,  who  had  strapped  them  on  the 
caissons  for  transportation. 

"  Just  after  passing  the  hill  where  our  battery  was  making 
things  so  lively,  they  stopped  firing  to  let  us  pass.  We  saw 
General  Leggett,  our  Division  Commander,  come  riding  toward 
us.  He  was  outside  of  our  line  of  works,  too.  You  know  how  we 
build  breastworks  —  sort  of  zigzag  like,  you  know,  so  they  can 
not  be  enfiladed.  Well,  that's  just  the  way  the  works  were 
along  there,  and  you  never  saw  such  a  curious  shape  as  we 
formed  our  Division  in.  Why,  part  of  them  were  on  one  side 
of  the  works,  and  go  along  a  little  further  and  here  was  a  reg- 


278 


4JSTDER801T7ILL1S. 


iment,  or  part  of  a  regiment  on  the  other  side,  both  sets  firing 
in  opposite  directions. 

"  No  sir'ee,  they  were  not  demoralized  or  in  confusion,  they 
were  cool  and  as  steady  as  on  parade.  But  the  old  Division 
had,  you  know,  never  been  driven  from  any  position  they  had 
once  taken,  in  all  their  long  service,  and  they  did  not  propose 


THE   WOKK   OF  A   SHELL. 

to  leave  that  ridge  until  they  got  orders  from  some  one  beside 
the  Kebs. 

"  There  were  times  when  a  fellow  did  not  know  which  side 
of.  the  works  was  the  safest,  for  the  Johnnies  were  in  front  of 
us  and  in  rear  of  us.  You  see,  our  Fourth  Division,  which  had 
been  to  the  left  of  us,  had  been  forced  to  quit  their  works,  when 
the  Rebs  got  into  the  works  in  their  rear,  so  that  our  Division 
was  now  at  the  point  where  our  line  turned  sharply  to  the  left, 
,ftnd  rear  —  in  the  direction  of  the  Sixteenth  Corps. 

"  We  got  into  business  before  we  had  been  there  over  three 
minutes.  A  line  of  the  Eebs  tried  to  charge  across  the  open 
fields  in  front  of  us,  but  by  the  help  of  the  old  twenty-four- 
pounders  (which  proved  to  be  part  of  Cooper's  Illinois  Battery, 
that  we  had  been  alongside  of  in  many  a  hard  fight  before), 
we  drove  them  back  a-flying,  only  to  have  to  jump  over  on  the 
outside  of  our  works  the  aext  minute  to  tackle  a  heavy  force 


A  BTOBY  OF  EEBKL  MILITAET  PBISONS.  270 

that  came  for  our  rear  through  that  blasted  strip  of  woods. 
We  soon  drove  them  off,  and  the  firing  on  both  sides  seemed  to 
have  pretty  much  stopped. 

"  *  Our  Brigade,'  which  we  discovered,  was  now  commanded 
by '  Old  Whiskers '  (Colonel  Wiles,  of  the  Seventy-Eighth  Ohio. 
I'll  bet  he's  got  the  longest  whiskers  of  any  man  in  the  Army.) 
You  see  General  Scott  had  not  been  seen  or  heard  of  since  he 
had  started  to  the  rear  after  our  regiment  when  the  fighting 
first  commenced.  We  all  believed  that  he  was  either  killed  or 
captured,  or  he  would  have  been  with  his  command.  He  was  a 
splendid  soldier,  and  a  bull-dog  of  a  lighter.  His  absence  was 
a  great  loss,  but  we  had  not  much  time  to  think  of  such  things, 
for  our  brigade  was  then  ordered  to  leave  the  works  and  to 
move  to  the  right  about  twenty  or  thirty  rods  across  a  large 
ravine,  where  we  were  placed  in  position  in  an  open  corn-field, 
forming  a  new  line  at  quite  an  angle  from  the  line  of  works  we 
had  just  left,  extending  to  the  left,  and  getting  us  back  nearer 
on  to  a  line  with  the  Sixteenth  Corps.  The  battery  of  howit 
zers,  now  reinforced  by  a  part  of  the  Third  Ohio  heavy  guns, 
itill  occupied  the  old  works  on  the-  highest  part  of  the  hill,  just 
to  the  right  of  our  new  line.  We  took  our  position  just  on  the 
brow  of  a  hill,  and  were  ordered  to  lie  down,  and  the  rear  rank 
to  go  for  rails,  which  we  discovered  a  few  rods  behind  us  in  the 
shape  of  a  good  ten-rail  fence.  Every  rear-rank  chap  came 
back  with  all  the  rails  he  could  lug,  and  we  barely  had  time  to 
lay  them  down  in  front  of  us,  forming  a  little  baricade  of  six 
to  eight  or  ten  inches  high,  when  we  heard  the  most  unearthly 
Rebel  yell  directly  in  front  of  us.  It  grew  louder  and  came 
nearer  and  nearer,  until  we  could  see  a  solid  line  of  the  gray 
coats  coming  out  of  the  woods  and  down  the  opposite  slope, 
their  battle  flags  living,  officers  in  front  with  drawn  swords, 
arms  at  right  shoulder,  and  everv  one  of  them  yelling  like  so 

O  ^  *•  o 

many  Sioux  Indians.  The  line  seemed  to  be  massed  six  or 
eight  ranks  deep,  followed  closely  by  the  second  line,  and  that 
by  the  third,  each,  if  possible,  yelling  louder  and  appearing 
more  desperately  reckless  than  the  one  ahead.  At  their  first 
appearance  we  opened  on  them,  and  so  did  the  bully  old  twenty- 
four-pounders,  with  cani-ter. 

"  On  they  came :  :he  ilrsi  line  ataggereu  and  wavered  back  oa 


280  JLBTDEE30NVILLE. 

to  the  second,  which  was  coming  on  the  doublo  quick.  Such  a 
raking  as  we  did  give  them.  Oh,  Lordy,  how  we  did  wish  that 
we  had  the  breech  loading  Spencers  or  Winchesters.  But  we 
had  the  old  reliable  Springfields,  and  we  poured  it  in  hot  and 
heavy.  By  the  time  the  charging  column  got  down  the  oppo 
site  slope,  and  were  struggling  through  the  thicket  of  under 
growth  in  the  ravine,  they  were  one  confused  mass  of  officers 
and  men,  the  three  lines  now  forming  one  solid  column,  which 
made  several  desperate  efforts  to  rush  up  to  the  top  of  the  hill 
where  we  were  punishing  them  so.  One  of  their  first  surges 
came  mighty  near  going  right  over  the  left  of  our  Regiment, 
as  they  were  lying  down  behind  their  little  rail  piles.  But  the 
boys  clubbed  their  guns  and  the  officers  used  their  revolvers 
And  swords  and  drove  them  back  down  the  hill. 

"  The  Seventy -Eighth  and  Twentieth  Ohio,  our  right  and  left 
bowers,  who  had  been  brigaded  with  us  ever  since  'Shiloh,' 
were  into  it  as  hot  and  heavy  as  we  had  been,  and  had  lost 
numbers  of  their  officers  and  men,  but  were  hanging  on  to  their 
little  rail  piles  when  the  fight  was  over.  At  one  time  the  Kebs 
were  right  in  on  top  of  the  Seventy-Eighth.  One  big  Reb 
grabbed  their  colors,  and  tried  to  pull  them  out  of  the  hands  of 
the  color-bearer.  But  old  Captain  Orr,  a  little,  short,  dried-up 
fellow,  about  sixty  years  old,  struck  him  with  his  sword  across 
the  back  of  the  neck,  and  killed  him  deader  than  a  mackerel, 
right  in  his  tracks. 

"  It  was  now  getting  dark,  and  the  Johnnies  concluded  they 
nad  taken  a  bigger  contract  in  trying  to  drive  us  off  that  hill 
in  one  day  than  they  had  counted  on,  so  they  quit  charging  on 
us,  but  drew  back  under  cover  of  the  woods  and  along  the  old 
line  of  works  that  we  had  left,  and  kept  up  a  pecking  away  and 
sharpshooting  at  us  all  night  long.  They  opened  fire  on  us 
from  a  number  of  pieces  of  artillery  from  the  front,  from  the 
i  left,  and  from  some  heavy  guns  away  over  to  the  right  of  us, 
in  the  main  works  around  Atlanta. 

"  We  did  not  fool  away  much  time  that  night,  either.  We 
got  our  shovels  and  picks,  and  while  part  of  us  were  sharp- 
shooting  and  trying  to  keep  the  Rebels  from  workkig  up  too 
close  to  us,  the  rest  of  the  boys  were  putting  up  some  good 
solid  earthworks  right  where  our  rail  piles  had  been,  and  bj 


A  8TOBT  07  REBEL  MTLTPASY 


281 


morning  we  were  in  splendid  shape  to  have  received  our  friends, 
no  matter  which  way  they  had  come  at  us,  for  they  kept  up 
such  an  all-fired  shelling  of  us  from  so  many  different  directions, 
that  the  boys  had  built  traverses  and  bomb-proofs  at  all  sorts 
of  angles  and  in  all  directions. 
"  There  was  one  point  off  to  our  right,  a  few  rods  up  along 


THE    FIGHT    FOE    THE   FLAG. 

our  old  line  of  works  where  there  was  a  crowd  of  Kebel  sharp, 
shooters  that  annoyed  us  more  than  all  the  rest,  by  their  con 
stant  firing  at  us  through  the  night.  They  killed  one  of  Com 
pany  H's  boys,  and  wounded  several  others.  Finally  Captain 
Williams,  of  D  Company,  came  along  and  said  he  wanted  a 
couple  of  good  shots  out  of  our  company  to  go  with  him,  so  I 
went  for  one.  He  took  about  ten  of  us,  and  we  crawled  down 
into  the  ravine  in  front  of  where  we  were  build^g  the  works, 
and  got  behind  a  large  fallen  tree,  and  we  laid  tnere  and  could 
just  fire  right  up  into  the  rear  of  those  fellows  as  they  lav  in 


AJTDEKSONYILLE. 


behind  a  traverse  extending  back  from  our  old  line  of 
It  was  so  dark  we  could  only  see  where  to  fire  by  the  flash  of 
guns,  but  every  time  they  would  shoot,  some  of  us  would  let 
them  have  one.  They  staid  there  until  almost  daylight,  \vhen 
they  concluded  as  things  looked,  since  we  were  going  to  stay, 
they  had  better  be  going. 

"  It  was  an  awful  night.  Down  in  the  ravine  below  us  lay 
hundreds  of  killed  and  wounded  Rebels,  groaning  and  crying 
aloud  for  water  and  for  help.  "We  did  do  what  we  could  for 
those  right  around  us  —  but  it  was  so  dark,  and  so  many  shell 
bursting  and  bullets  flying  around  that  a  fellow  could  not  get 
about  much.  I  tell  you  it  was  pretty  tough  next  morning  to 
go  along  to  the  different  companies  of  our  regiment  and  hear 
who  were  among  the  killed  and  wounded,  and  to  see  the  long 
row  of  graves  that  were  being  dug  to  bury  our  comrades  and 
our  officers.  There  was  the  Captain  of  Company  E,  Nelson 
Skeeles,  of  Fulton  Courdby,  O.,  one  of  the  bravest  and  best 
officers  in  the  regiment.  By  his  side  lay  First  Sergeant  Lesnit, 
and  next  were  the  two  great,  powerful  Shepherds  —  cousins  — 
but  more  like  brothers.  One,  it  seems,  was  killed  while  sup 
porting  the  head  of  the  other,  who  had  just  received  a  death 
wound,  thus  dying  in  each  other's  arms. 

"  But  I  can't  begin  to  think  or  tell  you  the  names  of  all  the 
poor  boys  that  we  laid  away  to  rest  in  their  last,  long  sleep  on 
that  gloomy  day.  Our  Major  was  severely  wounded,  and 
several  other  officers  had  been  hit  more  or  less  badly. 

"  It  was  a  frightful  sight,  though,  to  go  over  the  field  in  front 
of  our  works  on  that  morning.  The  Rebel  dead  and  badly 
wounded  laid  where  they  had  fallen.  The  bottom  and  opposite 
side  of  the  ravine  showed  how  destructive  our  fire  and  that  ol 
the  canister  from  the  howitzers  had  been.  The  underbrush  was 
cut,  slashed,  and  torn  into  shreds,  and  the  larger  trees  were 
scarred,  bruised  and  broken  by  the  thousands  of  bullets  and 
other  missiles  that  had  been  poured  into  them  from  almost 
every  conceivable  direction  during  the  day  before. 

"  A  lot  of  us  boys  went  way  over  to  the  left  into  Fuller's 
Division  of  the  Sixteenth  Corps,  to  see  how  some  of  our  boys 
over  there  had  got  through  the  scrimmage,  for  they  had  about 
as  nasty  a  fight  as  any  part  of  the  Army,  and  if  it  had  not  been 


JL  STOUT  OF  EEBEL  MELITABT  PRISONS. 


283 


lor  tneir  being  just  where  they  were,  I  am  not  sure  but  what 
the  old  Seventeenth  Corps  would  have  had  a  different  story  to 
tell  now.  "We  found  our  friends  had  been  way  out  by  Decatur, 
where  their  brigade  had  got  into  a  pretty  lively  fight  on  their 
own  hook. 

"  "We  got  back  to  camp,  and  the  first  thing  I  knew  I  was 


IN    THE    RIFLE-PIT    AFTEK    THE    BATTLE. 

detailed  for  picket  duty,  and  we  were  posted  over  a  few  rods 
across  the  ravine  in  our  front.  We  had  not  been  out  but  a 
,short  time  when  we  saw  a  flag  of  truce,  borne  by  an  officer, 
coming  towards  us.  We  halted  him,  and  made  him  wait  until 
a  report  was  sent  back  to  Corps  headquarters.  The  Eebel 
officer  was  quite  chatty  and  talkative  with  our  picket  officer, 
while  waiting.  He  said  he  was  on  General  Cleburne's  staff, 
and  that  the  troops  that  charged  us  so  fiercely  the  evening 
before  was  Clebume's  whole  Division,  and  that  after  their  last 
repulse,  knowing  the  hill  where  vre  were  posted  was  the  most 
important  position  along  our  line,  he  felt  that  if  they  would 
keep  close  to  us  during  the  night,  and  keep  up  a  show  of  fight, 
that  we  would  pull  out  and  abandon  the  hill  before  morning. 
5Le  said  that  he,  with  about  fifty  of  their  best  men,  had  volua- 


AJTDEE8ONVILLIL 

teered  to  keep  up  the  demonstration,  and  it  was  his  party  that 
had  occupied  the  traverse  in  our  old  works  the  night  before 
and  had  annoyed  us  and  the  Battery  men  by  their  constant 
snapshooting,  which  we  fellows  behind  the  old  tree  had 
finally  tired  out.  He  said  they  staid  until  almost  daylight,  and 
that  he  lost  more  than  half  his  men  before  he  left.  He  also 
told  us  that  General  Scott  was  captured  by  their  Division,  at 
about  the  time  and  almost  the  same  spot  as  where  General 
McPherson  was  killed,  and  that  he  was  not  hurt  or  wounded, 
and  was  now  a  prisoner  in  their  hands. 

"  Quite  a  lot  of  our  staff  officers  soon  came  out,  and  as  near 
as  we  could  learn  the  Eebels  wanted  a  truce  to  bury  their  dead. 
Our  folks  tried  to  get  up  an  exchange  of  prisoners  that  had 
been  taken  by  both  sides  the  day  before,  but  for  some  reason 
they  could  not  bring  it  about.  But  the  truce  for  burying  the 
dead  was  agreed  to.  Along  about  dusk  some  of  the  boys  on 
my  post  got  to  telling  about  a  lot  of  silver  and  brass  instru 
ments  that  belonged  to  one  of  the  bands  of  the  Fourth  Division, 
"which  had  been  hung  up  in  some  small  trees  a  little  way  over  in 
front  of  where  we  were  when  the  light  was  going  on  the  day 
before,  and  that  when  a  bullet  would  strike  one  of  the  horns 
they  could  hear  it  go  <  phi  -  g 5  and  in  a  few  minutes  '  pan  -  g ' 
would  go  another  bullet  through  one  of  them. 

"  A  new  picket  was  just  coming  on,  and  I  had  picked  up  m;y 
blanket  and  haversack,  and  was  about  ready  to  start  back  to 
camp,  when,  thinks  I,  '  I'll  just  go  out  there  and  see  about  them 
hovns.'  I  told  the  boys  what  I  was  going  to  do.  They  all 
seemed  to  think  it  was  safe  enough,  so  out  I  started.  I  had  not 
gone  more  than  a  hundred  yards,  J  should  think,  when  here  I 
found  the  horns  all  hanging  around  on  the  trees  just  as  the 
boys  had  described.  Some  of  them  had  lots  of  bullet  holes  in 
them.  But  I  saw  a  beautiful,  nice  looking  silver  bugle  hanging 
off  to  one  side  a  little.  '  "Thinks,'  says  I,  '  I'll  just  take  that 
little  toot  horn  in  out  of  the  wet,  and  take  it  back  to  cam  p.'  I 
was  just  reaching  up  after  it  when  I  heard  some  one  say, 
*  Halt ! '  and  I'll  be  dog-goned  if  there  wasn't  two  of  the 
meanest  looking  Rebels,  standing  not  ten  feet  from  me,  with 
their  guns  cocked  and  pointed  at  me,  and,  of  course,  I  knew  I 
was  a  goaer.  They  walked  me  back  about  one  hundred  and 


A  STORY  OF  REBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS. 


235 


frfty  yards,  where  their  picket  line  was.  From  there  I  was 
kept  going  for  an  hour  or  two  until  we  got  over  to  a  place  on 
the  luilroad  called  East  Point.  There  I  got  in  with  a  big 
crowd  of  our  prisoners,  who  were  taken  the  day  before,  and  we 


TAXEN   IN. 


have  been  fooling  along  in  a  lot  of  old  cattle  cars  getting 
down  here  ever  since. 

"  So  this  is  <  Anderson viHe/  is  it  I    Well,  by 1  * 


CHAPTER  XLL 
[CLOTHING:  ITS  RAPID  DETERIORATION,  AND  DITTOES  TO 


GAP"    AND   HIS   LETTER. 


Clothing  had  now  become  an  object  of  real  solicitude  to  us 
Bolder  prisoners.  The  veterans  of  our  crowd  —  the  surviving 
remnant  of  those  captured  at  Gettysburg  —  had  been  pris 
oned  over  a  year.  The  next  in  seniority  —  the  Chickamauga 
boys  —  had  been  in  ten  months.  The  Mine  Eun  fellows  were 
eight. months  old,  and  my  battalion  had  had  seven  months'  in 
carceration.  None  of  us  were  models  of  well-dressed  gentle 
men  when  captured.  Our  garments  told  the  whole  story  of 
the  hard  campaigning  we  had  undergone.  Now,  with  months 
of  the  wear  and  tear  of  prison  life,  sleeping  on  the  sand, 
working  in  tunnels,  digging  wells,  etc.,  we  were  tattered  and 
torn  to  an  extent  that  a  second-class  tramp  would  have  con 
sidered  disgraceful. 

This'is  no  reflection  upon  the  quality  of  the  clothes  furnished 
by  the  Government.  We  simply  reached  the  limit  of  the  wear 
of  textile  fabrics.  I  am  particular  to  say  this,  because  I  want 
to  contribute  my  little  mite  towards  doing  justice  to  a  badly 
abused  part  of  our  Army  organization  —  the  Quartermaster's 
Department.  It  is  fashionable  to  speak  of  "  shoddy,"  and  utter 
some  stereotyped  sneers 'about  "  brown  paper  shoes,"  and  "  mus- 
keto-netting  overcoats,"  when  any  discussion  of  the  Quarter, 
master  service  is  the  subject  of  conversation,  but  I  have  no 
hesitation  in  asking  the  indorsement  of  my  comrades  to  the 
statement  that  we  have  never  found  anywhere  else  as  durable 
garments  as  those  furnished  us  by  the  Government  during  our 


A  BTOBY  OF  REBEL  MILITABY  PBISON3. 


287 


service  in  the  Army.  The  clothes  were  not  as  fine  in  texture, 
nor  so  stylish  in  cut  as  those  we  wore  before  or  since,  but  when 
it  came  to  wear  they  could  be  relied  on  to  the  last  thread.  It 
was  always  marvelous  to  me  that  they  lasted  so  well,  with  the 
rough  usage  a  soldier  in  the  field  must  necessarily  give  them. 

But  to  return  to  my  subject.  I  can  best  illustrate  the  wa} 
our  clothes  dropped  off  us,  piece  by  piece,  like  the  petals  from 
the  last  rose  of  Summer,  by  taking  my  own  case  as  an  example : 
When  I  entered  prison  I  was  clad  in  the  ordinary  garb  of  an 
enlisted  man  of  the  cavalry  —  stout,  comfortable  boots,  woolen 
1»ccks,  drawers,  pantaloons,  with  a  "  re-enforcement,"  or  "  ready- 
made  patches,"  as  the  infantry  called  them ; 
vest,  warm,  snug-fitting  jacket,  under  and 
over  shirts,  heavy  overcoat,  and  a  forage-cap. 
First  my  boots  fell  into  cureless  ruin,  but  this 
was  no  special  hardship,  as  the  weather  had 
become  quite  warm,  and  it  was  more  pleasant 
than  otherwise  to  go  barefooted.  Then  part 
of  the  underclothing  retired  from  service, 
The  jacket  and  vest  followed,  their  end  being 
hastened  by  having  their  best  portions  taken 
to  patch  up  the  pantaloons,  which  kept  giving 
out  at  the  most  embarrassing  places.  Then 
the  cape  of  the  overcoat  was  called  upon  to 
assist  in  repairing  these  continually-recurring 
breaches  in  the  nether  garments.  The  same 
insatiate  demand  finallv  consumed  the  whole 
coat,  in  a  vain  attempt  to  prevent  an  exposure 
of  person  greater  than  consistent  with  the  usages  of  society. 
The  pantaloons  —  or  what,  by  courtesy,  I  called  such,  were  a 
monument  of  careful  and  ingenious,  but  hopeless,  patching,  that 
should  have  called  forth  the  admiration  of  a  Florentine  artist 
in  mosaic.  I  have  been  shown  —  in  later  years  —  raany  table 
tops,  ornamented  in  marquetry,  inlaid  with  thousands  of  little 
bits  of  wood,  cunningly  arranged,  and  patiently  joined  together. 
I  always  look  at  them  with  interest,  for  I  know  the  work  spent 
upon  them  :  I  remember  my  Anderson  vilie  pantaloons. 

The  clothing  upon  the  upper  part  of    my  body  had   been 
reduced  to  the  remains  of  a  knit  undershirt,     it  had  fallen  into 


-2S8 


1884. 


so  many  holes  that  it  looked  like  the  coarse  "riddles"  through' 
which  ashes  and  gravel  are  sifted.  Wherever  these  holes  were 
the  sun  had  burned  my  back,  breast  and  shoulders  deeply  black. 
The  parts  covered  by  the  threads  and  fragments  forming  the 

boundaries  of  the  holes,  were  still 
white.  When  I  pulled  my  alleged 
shirt  off,  to  wash  or  to  free  it  from 
some  of  its  teeming  population,  my 
skin  showed  a  fine  lace  pattern  in 
black  and  white,  that  was  very  in 
teresting  to  my  comrades,  and  •  the 
subject  of  countless  jokes  by  them. 

They  used  to  descant  loudly  on  the 
chaste  elegance  of  the  design,  the 
richness  of  the  tracing,  etc.,  and  beg 
j,  me  to  furnish  them  with  a  copy  of  it 
when  I  got  home,  for  their  sisters  to 
work  window  curtains  or  tidies  by.  . 
They  were  sure  that  so  striking  a  ! 
novelty  in  patterns  would  be  very  acceptable.  I  would  reply 
to  their  witticisms  in  the  language  of  Parties  Prince  of 
Morocco: 

Mialike  me  not  for  my  complexion— 
The  shadowed  livery  of  the  burning  sun. 

One  of  the  stories  told  me  in  my  childhood  by  an  old  negro 
nurse,  was  of  a  poverty  stricken  little  girl  "  who  slept  on  the 
floor  and  was  covered  with  the  door,"  and  she  once  asked  — 
1     "Mamma,  how  do  poor  folks  get  along  who  haven't  any 
door?" 

i     In  the  same  spirit  I  used  to  wonder  how  poor  fellows  got 
along  who  hadn't  any  shirt. 

One  common  way  of  keeping  up  one's  clothing  was  by  stealing 
mealsacks.  The  meal  furnished  as  rations  was  brought  in  in 
white  cotton  sacks.  Sergeants  of  detachments  were  required 
to  return  these  when  the  rations  were  issued  the  next  day.  I 
have  before  alluded  to  the  general  incapacity  of  the  Eebels  to 
deal  accurately  with  even  simple  numbers.  It  was  never  very 
difficult  for  a  shrewd  Sergeant  to  make  nine  sacks  count  as  ten. 
awhile  the  Eebels  began  to  see  tkrought  this  sleight  of 


r±  8TOET  OF  BTEBTEL  lOLITAET  PBISOITS.  289* 

liand  Manipulation,  and  to  check  it.  TheD  the  Sergeants 
resorted  to  the  device  of  tearing  the  sacks  in  two,  and  turning 
each  half  in  as  a  whole  one.  The  cotton  cloth  gained  in  this 
way  was  used  for  patching,  or,  if  a  boy  could  succeed  in  beating 
the  Rebels  out  of  enough  of  it,  he  would  fabricate  himself  a 
shirt  or  a  pair  of  pantaloons.  We  obtained  all  our  thread  in 
the  same  way.  A  half  of  a  sack,  carefully  raveled  out,  would 
furnish  a  couple  of  handfuls  of  thread.  Had  it  not  been  for 
this  resource  all  our  sewing  and  mending  would  have  come  to 
a  standstill 

1  Most  of  our  needles  were  manufactured  by  ourselves  from 
bones.  A  piece  of  bone,  split  as  near  as  possible  to  the  required 
size,  was  carefully  rubbed  down  upon  a  brick,  and  then  had  an 
eye  laboriously  worked  through  it  with  a  bit  of  wire  or  some 
thing  else  available  for  the  purpose.  The  needles  were  about 
the  size  of  ordinary  darning  needles,  and  answered  the  purpose 
very  well. 

These  devices  gave  one  some  conception  of  the  way  savages 
provide  for  the  wants  of  their  lives.  Time  was  with  them, 
as  [with  us,  of  little  importance.  It  was  no  loss  of  time  to 
them,  nor  to  us,  to  spend  a  large  portion  of  the  waking  hours 
of  a  week  in  fabricating  a  needle  out  of  a  bone,  where  a  civi- 

O  / 

lized  man  could  purchase  a  much  better  one  with  the  product 
of  three  minutes'  labor.  I  do  not  think  any  red  Indian  of  the, 
plains  exceeded  us  in  the  patience  with  which  we  worked  away 
at  these  minutiae  of  life's  needs. 

Of  course  the  most  common  source  of  clothing  was  the  dead, 
*»nd  no  body  was  carried  out  with  any  clothing  on  it  tnat  could 
be  of  service  to  the  survivors.  The  Plymouth  Pilgrims,  who 
were  so  well  clothed  on  coming  in,  and  were  now  dying  off 
very  rapidly,  furnished  many  good  suits  to  cover  the  nakedness 
of  older  prisoners.  Most  of  the  prisoners  from  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  were  well  dressed,  and  as  very  many  died  within 
a  month  or  six  weeks  after  their  entrance,  they  left  their  clothes 
in  pretty  good  condition  for  those  who  constituted  themselves 
their  heirs,  administrators  and  assigns. 

For  my  own  part,  I  had  the  greatest  aversion  to  wearing 
dead  men's  clothes,  and  could  only  bring  myself  to  it  after  I 
19 


290  .  ANDER80NYILLE. 

had  been  a  year  in  prison,  and  it  became  a  question  between 
doing  that  and  freezing  to  death. 

Every  new  batch  of  prisoners  was  besieged  with  anxious 
inquiries  on  the  subject  which  lay  closest  to  all  our  hearts : 

"  What  are  they  doing  about  exchange  ?  " 

Nothing  in  human  experience  —  save  the  anxious  expectancy 
of  a  sail  by  castaways  on  a  desert  island  —  could  e^ual  the 
intense  eagerness  with  which  this  question  was  asked,  and  the 
answer  awaited.  To  thousands  now  hanging  on  the  verge  of 
eternity  it  meant  life  or  death.  Between  the  first  day  of  July 
and  the  first  of  November  over  twelve  thousand  men  died,  who 
would  doubtless  have  lived  had  they  been  able  to  reach  our 
lines  —  "get  to  God's  country,"  as  we  expressed  it. 

The  new  comers  brought  little  reliable  news  of  contemplated 
exchange.  There  was  none  to  bring  in  the  first  place,  and  in 
the  next,  soldiers  in  active  service  in  the  field  had  other  things 
to  busy  themselves  with  than  reading  up  the  details  of  the 
negotiations  between  the  Commissioners  of  Exchange.  They 
had  all  heard  rumors,  however,  and  by  the  time  they  reached 
Anderson ville,  they  had  crystallized  these  into  actual  statements 
of  fact.  A  half  hour  after  they  entered  the  Stockade,  a  report 
like  this  would  spread  like  wildfire : 

"  An  Army  of  the  Potomac  man  has  just  come  in,  who  was 
captured  in  front  of  Petersburg.  He  says  that  he  read  in  the 
New  York  Herald,  the  day  before  he  was  taken,  that  an 
exchange  had  been  agreed  upon,  and  that  our  ships  had  already 
started  for  Savannah  to  take  us  home." 

Then  our  hopes  would  soar  up  like  balloons.  TVe  fed  our 
selves  on  such  stuff  from  day  to  day,  and  doubtless  many  lives 
were  greatly  prolonged  by  the  continual  encouragement.  There 
was  hardly  a  day  when  I  did  not  say  to  myself  that  I  would 
much  rather  die  than  endure  imprisonment  another  month,  and 
had  I  believed  that  another  month  would  see  me  still  there,  I 
am  pretty  certain  that  I  should  have  ended  the  matter  by 
crossing  the  Dead  Line.  I  was  firmly  resolved  not  to  die  the 
disgusting,  agonizing  death  that  so  many  around  me  were  dying. 

One  of  our  best  purveyors  of  information  was  a  bright,  blue- 
eyed,  fair-haired  little  drummer  boy,  as  handsome  as  a  girl, 


A  8TOET  OF  EEBEL  MTLITAIiY  PRISONS* 


S91 


well-bred  as  a  lady,  and  evidently  the  darling  of  some  refined, 
loving  mother.  He  belonged,  I  think,  to  some  loyal  Virginia 
regiment,  was  captured  in  one  of  the  actions  in  the  Shenandoah 
Valley,  and  had  be^n  with  us  in  Kichmond.  We  called  him 
"Ked  Cap,"  from  his  wearing  a  jaunty,  gold-laced,  crimson 
cap.  Ordinarily,  the  smaller  a  drummer  boy  is  the  harder  he 

is,  but  no  amount  of  attrition 
with  rough  men  could  coarsen 
the  ingrained  refinement  of  Red 
Cap's  manners.  He  was  between 
thirteen  and  fourteen,  and  it 
seemed  utterly  shameful  that 
men,  calling  themselves  soldiers, 
should  make  war  on  such  a  tender 
boy  and  drag  him  off  to  prison. 
But  no  six-footer  had  a  more 
soldierly  heart  than  little  Red 
Cap,  and  none  were  more  loyal 
to  the  cause.  It  was  a  pleasure 
to  hear  him  tell  the  story  of  tha 
fights  and  movements  his  regi 
ment  had  been  engaged  in.  He 
was  a  good  observer  and  told 
his  tale  with  boyish  fervor. 
Shortly  after  TVirz  assumed  command  he  took  Red  Cap  into 
his  office  as  an  Orderly,  llis  bright  face  and  winning  manners 
fascinated  the  women  visitors  at  headquarters,  and  numbers  of 
them  tried  to  adopt  him,  but  with  poor  success.  Like  the  rest 
of  us,  he  could  see  few  charms  in  an  existence  under  the  Rebel 
flag,  and  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  their  blandishments.  He  kept 
his  ears  open  to  the  conversation  of  the  Rebel  officers  around 
him,  and  frequently  secured  permission  to  visit  the  interior  of 
the  Stockade,  when  he  would  comniunicate  to  n*  all  that  he  had 
heard.  He  received  a  flattering  reception  every  time  he  came 
in,  and  no  orator  ever  secured  a  more  attentive  audience  than 
would  gather  around  him  to  listen  to  what  he  had  to  say.  He 
was,  beyond  a  doubt,  the  best  known  and  most  popular  person 
in  the  prison,  and  I  know  all  the  survivors  of  hk  old  admirers 
share  my  great  interest  in  hur>>  a&d  my  curiosity  as  to 


LITTLE  RJCJ>  CAP. 


202 

he  yet  lives,  and  whether  his  subsequent  career  has  justified  tho 
sanguine  hopes  we  all  had  as  to  his  future.  I  hope  that  if  he- 
sees  this,  or  any  one  who  knows  anything  about  him,  he  will 
communicate  with  me.  There  are  thousands  who  will  be  glad 
to  hear  from  him. 

[A  most  remarkable  coincidence  occurred  in  regard  to  this 
comrade.  Several  days  after  the  above  had  been  written,  and 
"  set  up,"  but  before  it  had  yet  appeared  in  the  paper,  I  received 
the  following  letter: 

ECKHART  MINTB, 

AUtffhany  County,  Md.,  March  24. 

To  the  Editor  of  the  BLAD*  : 

Last  evening  I  saw  a  copy  of  your  paper,  in  which  was  a  chapter  or  two  of 
a  prison  life  of  a  soldier  during  the  late  war.  I  was  forcibly  stnick  with  the 
correctness  of  what  he  wrote,  and  the  names  of  several  of  my  old  comrades 
which  he  quoted:  Hill,  Limber  Jim,  etc.,  etc.  I  was  a  drummer  boy  of  Com 
pany  I,  Tenth  West  Virginia  Infantry,  and  was  .fifteen  years  of  age  a  day  or 
two  after  arriving  in  Andersonville,  which  was  in  the  last  of  February,  1884. 
Nineteen  of  my  comrades  were  there  with  me,  and,  poor  fellows,  they  are  there 
yet.  I  have  no  doubt  that  I  would  have  remained  there,  too,  had  I  not  been 
more  fortunate. 

I  do  not  know  who  your  soldier  correspondent  is,  but  assume  to  say  that 
from  the  following  description  he  will  remember  having  seen  me  in  Ander- 
ionyille:  I  was  the  little  boy  that  for  three  or  four  months  officiated  M 
orderly  for  Captain  Wirz.  I  wore  a  red  cap,  and  every  day  could  be  ceen 
riding  Wirz's  gray  mare,  either  at  headquarters,  or  about  the  Stockade.  I 
was  acting  in  this  capacity  when  the  six  raiders — "Mosby,"  (proper  name 
Collins)  Delaney,  Curtis,  and  —  I  forget  the  other  names  —  were  executed. 
I  believe  that  I  was  the  first  that  conveyed  the  intelligence  to  them  that  Con 
federate  General  Winder  had  approved  their  sentence.  As  soon  as  Wirz 
received  the  dispatch  to  that  effect,  I  ran  down  to  the  stocks  and  told  them. 

I  visited  Hill,  of  Wauseon,  Fulton  County,  O.,  since  the  war,  and  found 
him  hale  and  hearty.  I  have  not  heard  from  him  for  a  number  of  years  until 
reading  your  correspondent's  letter  last  evening.  It  is  the  only  letter  of  the 
series  tiia*  T  have  seen,  but  after  rending  that  one,  I  feel  called  upon  to  certify 
that  I  nave  no  doubts  of  the  truthfulness .  of  your  correspondent's  story. 
The  world  will  never  know  or  believe  the  horrors  of  Anderson ville  and 
other  prisons  m  the  South.  No  living,  human  being,  in  my  judgment,  will 
ever  be  able  to  properly  paint  the  horrors  of  those  infernal  dens. 

I  formed  the  acquaintance  of  several  Ohio  soldiers  whilst  in  prison. 
Among'these  were  O.  D.  Streeter,  of  Cleveland,  who  went  to  Andersonville 
about  the  same  time  that  I  did,  and  escaped,  and  was  the  only  man  that  I 
ever  knew  that  escaped  and  reached  our  lines.  After  an  absence  of  several 
months  he  was  retaken  in  one  of  Sherman's  battles  before  Atlanta,  and 
brought  back.  I  also  knew  John  L.  Richards,  of  Fostoria,  Seneca  County, 
0.,  or  Eaglesville,  Wood  County.  Also,  a  man  by  th.e  name  of  Beverly,  who 


A  STORY  OF  REBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS. 


293 


was  a  partner  of  Charley  Huckleby,  of  Tennessee.     I  would  like  to  hear  from 
all  of  these  parties.     They  all  know  me. 

Mr.  Editor,  I  will  close  by  wishing  all  my  comrades  who  shared  in  the  suf« 
ferings  and  dangers  of  Confederate  prisons,  a  lone:  and  useful  life. 

Yours  truly, 

RjLNSOM  T.    POWSLL. 


>E5s^"  ar-^S, LHi~Xr»:  '$  /&£ "  "'^iV-r/A/.i'^^'-^'^M?-*^"- 

ffij^s^, 

te^ 

^&Sr^ 


CHAPTER   TLTT. 


BOMT5   FEATURES  OF    THE    MORTALITY PERCENTAGE   OF   DEATHS   TO 

THOSE    LIVING- AN    AVERAGE     MAN    ONLY     STANDS    THE     MISEBT 

THREE  MONTHS DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  PRISON  AND  THE  CONDI 
TION  OF  THE  MEN  THEREIN,  BY  A  LEADING  8CIENTTFIO  MAN  OF 
THE  SOUTH. 

Speaking  of  the  mariner  in  which  the  Plymouth  Pilgrim* 
were  now  dying,  I  am  reminded  of  my  theory  that  the  ordinary 
man's  endurance  of  this  prison  life  did  not  average  over  three 
months.  The  Plymouth  boys  arrived  in  May;  the  bulk  of 
those  who  died  passed  away  in  July  and  August.  The  grea* 
increase  of  prisoners  from  all  sources  was  in  May,  June  and 
July.  The  greatest  mortality  among  these  was  in  August, 
September  and  October.  The  following  table,  which  shows  the 
number  of  new  prisoners  arriving  each  month,  and  the  number 
dying  the  third  month  after,  will  illustrate  on  what  I  base  my 
\heory : 


NTTOBER  ARRIVED  DJ 

May 8.735 

Junu 9.114 

July _._ 7/228 


NUMBER    DIED   IN 

August 8,07* 

September 2,794 

October 1,590 


Many  came  in  who  had  been  in  good  health  during  their  ser 
vice  in  the  field,  but  who  seemed  utterly  overwhelmed  by  the 
appalling  misery  they  saw  on  every  hand,  and  giving  way  to 
despondency,  died  in  a  few  days  or  weeks.  I  do  not  mean  to 
include  them  in  the  above  class,  as  their  sickness  was  more 
mental  Itan  physical.  My  idea  is  that,  taking  one  hundred 
ordinarily  healthful  young  soldiers  from  a  regiment  in  active 
service,  and  putting  them  into  Andersonville,  by  the  end  of  the 
month  at  least  thirty-three  of  those  weakest  and  most 


A  flTCBT  OF  EBB2L  lOLITASY  PBIgOJTS. 

'Vulnerable  to  disease  would  have  succumbed  to  the  exposure,  the 
.pollution  of  ground  and  air,  and  the  insufficiency  of  the  ration 
of  coarse  corn  meaL  After  this  the  mortality  would  be  some 
what  less,  say  at  the  end  of  six  months  fifty  of  them  would  be 
dead.  The  remainder  would  hang  on  still  more  tenaciously, 
and  at  the  end  of  a  year  there  would  be  fifteen  or  twenty  still 
alive.  There  were  sixty-three  of  my  company  taken ;  thirteen 
lived  through.  I  believe  this  was  about  the  usual  proportion 
for  those  who  were  in  as  long  as  we.  In  all  there  were  forty- 
five  thousand  six  hundred  and  thirteen  prisoners  brought  into 
Anderson ville.  Of  these  twelve  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
twelve  died  there,  to  say  nothing  of  thousands  that  died  in 
other  prisons  in  Georgia  and  the  Carolinas,  immediately  after 
their  removal  from  Anderson  ville.  One  of  every  three  and 
a-half  men  upon  whom  the  gates  of  the  Stockade  closed  never 
repassed  them  alive.  Twenty-nine  per  cent,  of-  the  boys  who 
«o  much  as  set  foot  in  Andersonville  died  there.  Let  it  be  kept 
in  mind  all  the  time,  that  the  average  stay  of  a  prisoner  there 
was  not  four  months.  The  great  majority  came  in  after  the 
1st  of  May,  and  left  before  the  middle  of  September.  May  1, 
1864,  there  were  ten  thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty-seven 
in  the  Stockade.  August  8  there  were  thirty-three  thousand 
one  hundred  and  fourteen  ;  September  30  all  these  were  dead  or 
gone,  except  eight  thousand  two  hundred  and  eighteen,  of 
whom  four  thousand  five  hundred  and  ninety  died  inside  of  the 
next  thirty  days.  The  records  of  the  world  can  show  no 
parallel  to  this  astounding  mortality. 

Since  the  above  matter  was  first  published  in  the  BLADE,  a 
friend  has  sent  me  a  transcript  of  the  evidence  at  tiie  \Tirz 
trial,  of  Professor  Joseph  Jones,  a  Surgeon  of  high  rank  in  the 
Rebel  Army,  and  who  stood  at  the  head  of  the  medical  pro 
fession  in  Georgia.  He  visited  Andersonville  at  the  instance  of 
the  Surgeon-General  of  the  Confederate  States'  Army,  to  make 
a  study,  for  the  benefit  of  science,  of  the  phenomena  of  disease 
occurring  there.  His  capacity  and  opportunities  for  observa 
tion,  and  for  clearly  estimating  the  value  of  the  facts  coming 
under  Ids  notice  were,  of  course,  vastly  superior  to  mine,  and 
as  he  states  the  case  stronger  than  I  dare  to.  for  fear  of  beinp1 

~  o 

accused  of  exaggeration  and  downright  untruth,  I  reproduce 


298 

the  major  part  of  his  testimony  —  embodying  also  his  official 
report  to  medical  headquarters  at  Richmond  —  that  my  reader* 
may  know  how  the  prison  appeared  to  the  eyes  of  one  who, 
though  a  bitter  Rebel,  was  still  a  humane  man  and  a  conscien 
tious  observer,  striving  to  learn  the  truth : 


MEDICAL  TESTIMONY. 

[Transcript  from  the  printed  testimony  at  the  Wirz  Trial,  paget  618  to  639, 

OCTOBER  7,  1865. 

Dr.  Joseph  Jones,  for  the  prosecution : 

By  the  Judge  Advocate  : 

Question.  Where  do  you  reside  3 

Answer.  In  Augusta,  Georgia. 

Q.  Are  you  a  graduate  of  any  medical  college  ? 

A.  Of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 

Q.  How  long  have  you  been  engaged  in  the  practice  of  medi 
cine? 

A.  Eight  years. 

Q.  Has  your  experience  been  as  a  practitioner,  or  rather  as 
an  investigator  of  medicine  as  a  science  ? 

A.  Both. 

Q.  What  position  do  you  hold  now  ? 

A.  That  of  Medical  Chemist  in  the  Medical  College  of  Geor 
gia,  at  Augusta. 

Q.  How  long  have  you  held  your  position  in  that  college  I 

A.  Since  1858. 

Q.  How  were  you  employed  during  the  Rebellion  ? 

A.  I  served  six  months  in  the  early  part  of  it  as  a  private  in 
the  ranks,  and  the  rest  of  the  time  in  the  medical  department. 

Q.  Under  the  direction  of  whom  '$ 

A.  Under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Moore,  Surgeon  General. 

Q.  Did  you,  while  acting  under  his  direction,  visit  Anderson- 
ville,  professionally  ? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  For  the  purpose  of  making  investigations  there? 

A.  For  the  purpose  of  prosecuting  investigations  ordered  by 
the  Surgeon  General 


A  8TOET  OF  EEBEL  MTLTTAET  FSXBOQfB* 

Q.  You  went  there  in  obedience  to  a  letter  of  instructions  ? 
A.  In  obedience  to  orders  which  I  received. 
Q.  Did  you  reduce  the  results  of  your  investigations  to  the 
shape  of  a  report  ? 

A.  I  was  engaged  at  that  work  when  General  Johnston  sur« 

O      O 

rendered  his  army. 

(A  document  being  handed  to  witness.) 

Q.  Have  you  examined  this  extract  from  your  report  and 
compared  it  with  the  original  ? 

A.  Yes,  sir ;  I  have. 

Q.  Is  it  accurate  ? 

A.  So  far  as  my  examination  extended,  it  is  accurate. 

The  document  just  examined  by  witness  was  offered  in  evi 
dence,  and  is  as  follows : 

Observations  upon  the  diseases  of  the  Federal  prisoners,  confined  in  Camp  8umt0rt 
Anderxonville,  in  SumUr  County,  Georgia,  instituted  with  a  view  to  iUuttrat* 
chiefly  ike  origin  and  causes  of  hospital  gangrene,  the  relation*  of  continued 
and  malarial  fews,  and  the  pathology  of  camp  diarrhea  and  dysentery,  by 
Joseph  Jone'S,  Surgeon  P.  A.  G.  S. ,  Professor  of  Medical  Chemistry  in  the  Mfdi- 
tal  College  of  Georgia,  at  Augusta,  Georgia. 

Hearing  of  the  unusual  mortality  among  the  Federal  pris* 
oners  confined  at  Andersonviile,  Georgia,  in  the  month  ol 
August,  1864,  during  a  visit  to  Richmond,  Ya.,  I  expressed  to 
the "  Surgeon  General,  S.  P.  Moore,  Confederate  States  of 
America,  a  desire  to  visit  Camp  Sumter,  with  the  design  of 
instituting  a  series  of  inquiries  upon  the  nature  and  causes  of 
the  prevailing  diseases.  Smallpox  had  appeared  among  the 
prisoners,  and  I  believed  that  this  would  prove  an  admirable 
field  for  the  establishment  of  its  characteristic  lesions.  The 
condition  of  Fever's  glands  in  this  disease  was  considered  as 
worthy  of  minute  investigation.  It  was  believed  that  a  large 
body  of  men  from  the  Northern  portion  of  the  United  States, 
suddenly  transported  to  a  warm  Southern  climate,  and  confined 
upon  a  small  portion  of  land,  would  furnish  an  excellent  field 
for  the  investigation  of  the  relations  of  typhus,  typhoid,  and 
malarial  fevers. 

The  Surgeon  General  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America 
furnished  me  with,  the  following  letter  of  introdnntira  to  the 


800 

Surgeon  in  charge  of  the  Confederate  States  Military  Prison  at 
Anderson ville,  Ga.: 

CONFEDERATE  STATES  OF  AMERICA, 
SURGEON  GENERAL'S  OFFICE,  RICHMOND,  VA., 

August  6,  1864. 

SIR: — The  field  of  pathological  investigations  afforded  by  the  large  collec- 
tion  of  Federal  prisoners  in  Georgia,  is  of  great  extent  and  importance,  and 
it  is  believed  that  results  of  value  to  the  profession  may  be  obtained  by  a 
careful  investigation  of  the  effects  of  disease  upon  the  large  body  of  men  sub 
jected  to  a  decided  change  of  climate  and  the  circumstances  peculiar  to  prison 
life.  The  Surgeon  in  charge  of  the  hospital  for  Federal  prisoners,  together 
with  his  assistants,  will  afford  every  facility  to  Surgeon  Joseph  Jones,  in  tho 
prosecution  of  th«  labors  ordered  by  the  Surgeon  General.  Efficient  assist 
ance  must  be  rendered  Surgeon  Jones  by  the  medical  officers,  not  only  in  hii 
examinations  into  the  causes  and  symptoms  of  the  various  diseases,  but 
especially  in  the  arduous  labors  of  post  mortem  examinations. 

The  medical  officers  will  assist  in  the  performance  of  such  post  mortems  as 
Surgeon  Jones  may  indicate,  in  order  that  this  great  field  for  pathological 
investigation  may  be  explored  for  the  benefit  of  the  Medical  Department  of 
the  Confederate  Army. 

S.  P.  MOORE,  Surgeon  General 

Surgeon  ISAIAH  H.  WHITE, 

In  charge  of  Hospital  for  Federal  prisoners,  AndersonviZle,  (7a. 

In  compliance  with  this  letter  of  the  Surgeon  General,  Isaiah 
H.  White,  Chief  Surgeon  of  the  post,  and  R.  R.  Stevenson, 
Surgeon  in  charge  of  the  Prison  Hospital,  afforded  the  neces 
sary  facilities  for  the  prosecution  of  my  investigations  among 
the  sick  outside  of  the  Stockade.  After  the  completion  of  my 
labors  in  the  military  prison  hospital,  the  following  communi 
cation  was  addressed  to  Brigadier  General  John  H.  Winder,  in 
consequence  of  the  refusal  on  the  part  of  the  commandant  of 
the  interior  of  the  Confederate  States  Military  Prison  to  admit 
me  within  the  Stockade  upon  the  order  of  the  Surgeon  Gen 
eral: 


CAMP  SUMTER,  ANDBRSONVILLB,  GA., 
September  16,  1864. 


GENERAL: — I  respectfully  request  the  commandant  of  the  post  of  Ander- 
sonville  to  grant  me  permission  and  to  furnish  the  necessary  pa-s  to  visit  the 
sick  and  medical  officers  within  the  Stockade  of  the  Confederate  States 
Prison.  I  desire  to  institute  certain  inquiries  ordered  by  the  Surgeon  Gen 
eral.  Surgeon  Isaiah  H.  White,  Chief  Surgeon  of  the  post,  and  Surgeoa 
3.  R.  Stevenson,  in  charge  of  the  Prison  Hospital,  have  ailurded  me  every 


A  BTOKT  OF  KEBBL  MIL1TAET  PBTSO^S. 

Ifacfltty  for  the  prosecution  of  my  labors   among  the  sick   outside  of  tht 
Stockade.  Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

JOSEPH  JONES,  Surgeon  P.  A.  0.  8. 
Brigadier  General  JOHN  H.  WINDER, 

Commandant,  Post  Andenonvitte. 

In  the  absence  of  General  Winder  from  the  post,  Captain 
"Winder  furnished  the  following  order : 

CAMP  SUMTER,  ANCERSONVTT.LE,  ) 
September  17,  1864.      f 

CAPTAIN  : — You  will  permit  Surgeon  Joseph  Jones,  who  has  orders  from 

the  Surgeon  General,  to  visit  the  sick  within  the  Stockade  that  are  under 

medical  treatment.     Surgeon  Jones  is  ordered  to  make  certain  investigations 

Which  may  prove  useful  to  his  profession.     By  direction  of  General  Winder. 

Very  respectfully. 

W.  S.  WINDER,  A.  A.  G. 
Captain  H.  Wraz,  Commanding  Prison. 

Description  of  the  Confederate  States  Military  Prison  Hospital  at  AndersonmTl*. 
Number  of  prisoners,  physical  condition,  food,  clothing,  habits,  moral  condition, 
diseases. 

The  Confederate  Military  Prison  at  Anderson ville,  Ga.,  con 
sists  of  a  strong  Stockade,  t wenty  feet  in  height,  enclosing 
twenty-seven  acres.  The  Stockade  is  formed  of  strong  pine 
logs,  firmly  planted  in  the  ground.  The  main  Stockade  is  sur 
rounded  by  two  other  similar  rows  of  pine  logs,  the  middle 
Stockade  being  sixteen  feet  high,  and  the  outer  twelve  feet. 
These  are  intended  for  offense  and  defense.  If  the  inner 
Stockade  should  at  any  time  be  forced  by  the  prisoners,  the 
second  forms  another  line  of  defense ;  while  in  case  of  an 
attempt  to  deliver  the  prisoners  by  a  force  operating  upon  the 
exterior,  the  outer  line  forms  an  admirable  protection  to  the 
Confederate  troops,  and  a  most  formidable  obstacle  to  cavalry 
or  infantry.  The  four  angles  of  the  outer  line  are  strengthened 
by  earthworks  upon  commanding  eminences,  from  which  the 
cannon,  in  case  of  an  outbreak  among  the  prisoners,  may  sweep 
the  entire  enclosure:  and  it  was  designed  to  connect  these 
works  by  a  line  of  rifle  pits,  running  zig-zag,  around  the  outer 
Stockade :  those  rifle  pits  have  never  been  completed.  The 
ground  enclosed  by  the  innermost  Stockade  lies  in  the  form  of 
a  parallelogram,  the  larger  diameter  running  almost  due  north 


303 


and  south.  This  space  includes  the  northern  and  sotrEnenr 
opposing  sides  of  two  hills,  between  which  a  stream  of  water 
runs  from  west  to  east.  The  surface  soil  of  these  hills  is  com 
posed  chiefly  of  sand  with  varying  admixtures  of  clay  and 
oxide  of  iron.  The  clay  is  sufficiently  tenacious  to  give  a  con 
siderable  degree  of  consistency  to  the  soil..  The  internal 
structure  of  the  hills,  as  revealed  by  the  deep  wells,  is  similar 
.  to  that  already  described.  The  alternate  layers  of  clay  and 
sand,  as  well  as  the  oxide  of  iron,  which  forms  in  its  various 
combinations  a  cement  to  the  sand,  allow  of  extensive  tunnel 
ling.  The  prisoners  not  only  constructed  numerous  dirt  huts 
with  balls  of  clay  and  sand,  taken  from  the  wells  which  they 
have  excavated  all  over  those  hills,  but  they  have  also,  in  some 
cases,  tunneled  extensively  j  from  these  wells.  The  lower  por 
tions  of  these  hills,  bordering  on  the  stream,  are  wet  and  boggy 
from  the  constant  oozing  of  water.  The  Stockade  was  built 
originally  to  accommodate  only  ten  thousand  prisoners,  and 
included  at  first  seventeen  acres.  Near  the  close  of  the  month 
of  June  the  area  was  enlarged  by  the  addition  of  ten  acres. 
The  ground  added  was  situated  on  the  northern  slope  of  the 
largest  hill. 

The  following  table  presents  a  view  of  the  density  of  the 
population  of  the  prison  at  different  periods : 

Table  illustrating  the  mean  number  of  prisoners  confined  in  the  Confederate 
State*  military  prison  at  Ander&onville,  Georgia,  from  its  organization,  Feb- 
ruary  24, 1864,  to  September^  1864,  and  the  average  number  of  square  feet  of 
fajund  to  each  prisoner. 


MOHTH  AND  YEA*. 

M-an  Ptreugth  of 
i'  federal  prisoners. 

Area  of  Stockade 
iti  square  feet. 

?|M 

March    '864 

7  -we 

740  5°0 

qg  7 

May   1MV4                      

15  000 

7-iO  5:20 

4q  3 

June,  1864                              .. 

22  -'01 

7*10  5->0 

33  3 

Jniy    ISM 

20  mo 

1  1  7fi  1  M 

Angupt,   Itf64        ...............  .  .......  ............. 

l'l7G'l20 

35  7 

Within  the  circumscribed  area  of  the  Stockade  the  Federal 
premiers  were  compelled  to  perform  all  the  offices  of  life  — 


A  STORY  OF  REBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS.  803 

cooking,  "washing,  the  calls  of  nature,  exercise,  and  sleeping. 
During  the  month  of  March  the  prison  was  less  crowded  than 
at  any  subsequent  time,  and  then  the  average  space  of  ground 
to  each  prisoner  was  only  9S.7  feet,  or  less  than  seven  square 
yards.  The  Federal  prisoners  were  gathered  from  all  parts  of 
the  Confederate  States  east  of  the  Mississippi,  and  crowded 
into  the  confined  space,  until  in  the  month  of  June  the  average 
number  of  square  feet  of  ground  to  each  prisoner  was  only  33.2 
or  less  than  four  square  yards.  These  figures  represent  the 
condition  of  the  Stockade  in  a  better  light  even  than  it  really 
was ;  for  a  considerable  breadth  of  land  along  the  stream,  flow 
ing  from  west  to  east  between  the  hills,  was  low  and  boggy, 
and  was  covered  with  the  excrement  of  the  men,  and  thus  ren 
dered  wholly  uninhabitable,  and  in  fact  useless  for  every  pur 
pose  except  that  of  defecation.  The  pines  and  other  small  trees 
and  shrubs,  which  originally  were  scattered  sparsely  over  these 
hills,  were  in  a  short  time  cut  down  and  consumed  by  the  pris 
oners  for  firewood,  and  no  shade  tree  was  left  in  the  entire 
enclosure  of  the  stockade.  "With  their  characteristic  industry 
and  ingenuity,  the  .Federals  constructed  for  themselves  small 
huts  and  caves,  and  attempted  to  shield  themselves  from  the 
rain  and  sun  and  night  damps  and  dew.  But  few  tents  were 
distributed  to  the  prisoners,  and  those  were  in  most  cases  torn 
and  rotten.  In  the  location  and  arrangement  of  these  tents 
and  huts  no  order  appears  to  have  been  followed ;  in  fact,  regu 
lar  streets  appear  to  be  out  of  the  question  in  so  crowded  an 
area;  especially  too,  as  large  bodies  of  prisoners  were  from 
time  to  time  added  suddenly  without  any  previous  preparations. 
The  irregular  arrangement  of  the  huts  and  imperfect  shelters 
was  very  unfavorable  for  the  maintenance  of  a  proper  svstein 
of  police. 

The  police  and  internal  economy  of  the  prison  was  Isft  almost 
entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  prisoners  themselves  ;  the  duties  of 
the  Confederate  soldiers  acting  as  guards  being  limited  to  the 
occupation  of  the  boxes  or  lookouts  ranged  around  the  stockade 
at  regular  intervals,  and  to  the  manning  of  the  batteries  at  the 
angles  of  the  prison.  Even  judicial  matters  pertaining  to  them 
selves,  as  the  detection  and  punishment  of  such  crimes  as  theft 
.and  murder  appear  to  have  been  in  a  great  measure  abandoned 


804 

to  the  prisoners.  A  striking  instance  of  this  occurred  in  tlie 
month  of  July,  when  the  Federal  prisoners  within  the  Stockade 
tried,  condemned,  and  hanged  six  (6)  of  their  own  number,  who 
had  been  convicted  of  stealing  and  of  robbing  and  murdering 
their  fellow-prisoners.  They  were  all  hung  upon  the  same  day, 
and  thousands  of  the  prisoners  gathered  around  to  witness  the 
execution.  The  Confederate  authorities  are  said  not  to  have 
interfered  with  these  proceedings.  In  this  collection  of  men 
from  all  parts  of  the  world,  every  phase  of  human  character  was 
represented ;  the  stronger  preyed  upon  the  weaker,  and  even 
the  sick  who  were  unable  to  defend  themselves  were  robbed  of 
their  scanty  supplies  of  food  and  clothing.  Dark  stories  were 
afloat,  of  men,  both  sick  and  well,  who  were  murdered  at  night, 
strangled  to  death  by  their  comrades  for  scant  supplies  of  cloth 
ing  or  money.  I  heard  a  sick  and  wounded  Federal  prisoner 
accuse  his  nurse,  a  fellow-prisoner  of  the  United  States  Army, 
of  having  stealthily,  during  his  sleep  inoculated  his  wounded 
arm  with  gangrene,  that  he  might  destroy  his  life  and  fall  heir 
to  his  clothing. 

•*#»*  ***» 

The  large  number  of  men  confined  withm^the  Stockade  soon, 
under  a  defective  system  of  police,  and  with  imperfect  arrange 
ments,  covered  the  surface  of  the  low  grounds  with  excrements. 
The  sinks  ov^r  the  lower  portions  of  the  stream  were  imperfect 
in  their  plan  and  structure,  and  the  excrements  were  in  large 
measure  deposited  so  near  the  borders  of  the  stream  as  not  to 
be  washed  away,  or  else  accumulated  upon  the  low  boggy 
ground.  The  volume  of  water  was  not  sufficient  to  wash  away 
the  feces,  and  they  accumulated  in  such  quantities  in  the  lower 
portion  of  the  stream  as  to  form  a  mass  of  liquid  excrement. 
Heavy  rains  caused  the  water  of  the  stream  to  rise,  and  as  the 
arrangements  for  the  passage  of  the  increased  amounts  of 
vrnter  out  of  the  Stockade  were  insufficient,  the  liquid  feces 
overflowed  the  low  grounds  and  covered  them  several  inches, 
after  the  subsidence  of  the  waters.  The  action  of  the  sun 
upon  this  putrefying  mass  of  excrements  and  fragments  of 
bread  and  merit  and  bones  excited  most  rapid  fermentation 
and  developed  :i  horrible  stench.  Improvements  were  projected 
for  the  removal  of  the  filth,  and  for  the  prevention  of  its  accu- 


A  8TOET  OP  REBEL  MTLITAEY  PEISONB.  805 

'mulation,  but  they  were  only  partially  and  imperfectly  carried 
out.  As  the  forces  of  the  prisoners  were  reduced  by  confine 
ment,  want  of  exercise,  improper  diet,  and  by  scurvy,  diarrhea, 
and  dysentery,  they  were  unable  to  evacuate  their  bowels 
within  the  stream  or  along  its  banks,  and  the  excremer.ts  were 
deposited  at  the  very  doors  of  their  tents.  The  vast  majority 
appeared  to  lose  all  repulsion  to  filth,  and  both  sick  and  well 
disregarded  all  the  laws  of  hygiene  and  personal  cleanliness. 
The  accommodations  for  the  sick  were  imperfect  and  insufficient. 
From  the  organization  of  the  prison,.  February  21,  IS 6-1,  to 
May  22,  the  sick  were  treated  within  the  Stockade.  In  the 
crowded  condition  of  the  Stockade,  and  with  the  tents  and  huts 
clustered  thickly  around  the  hospital,  it  was  impossible  to  secure 
proper  ventilation  or  to  maintain  the  necessary  police.  The 
Federal  prisoners  also  made  frequent  forays  upon  the  hospital 
stores  and  carried  off  the  food  and  clothing  OL  the  sick.  The 
hospital  was,  on  the  22d  of  May,  removed  to  its  present  site 
without  the  Stockade,  and  five  acres  of  ground  covered  with 
oaks  and  pines  approprated  to  the  use  of  the  sick. 

The  supply  of  medical  officers  has  been  insufficient  from  the 
foundation  of  the  prison. 

The  nurses  and  attendants  upon  the  sick  have  been  most  gen 
erally  Federal  prisoners,  who  in  too  many  cases  appear  to  have 
been  devoid  of  moral  principle,  and  who  not  only  neglected 
their  duties,  but  were  also  engaged  in  extensive  robbing  of  the 
sick. 

From  the  want  of  proper  police  and  hygienic  regulations 
alone  it  is  not  wonderful  that  from  February  21  to  September 
21,  ISO-t,  nine  thousand  four  hundred  and  seventy-nine  deaths, 
nearly  one-third  the  entire  number  of  prisoners,  should  have 
been  recorded.  I  found  the  Stockade  and  Hospital  in  the  fol 
lowing  condition  during  my  pathological  investigations,  insti 
tuted  in  the  month  of  September,  186i: 

STOCKADE,    CONFEDERATE    STATES    MILITARY    PIIISON. 

At  the  time  of  my  visit  to  Anderson ville  a  large  number  of 
Federal  prisoners  had  been  removed  to  Millen,  Savannah, 
Cliarleston,  and  other  parts  of  the  Confederacy,  in  anticipation 


906  UTDKRSONTIIJJL 

of  an  advance  of  General  Sherman's  forces  from  Atlanta,  with 
the  design  of  liberating  their  captive  brethren ;  however,  about 
fifteen  thousand  prisoners  remained  confined  within  the  limits 
of  the  Stockade  and  Confederate  States  Military  Prison  Hos 
pital. 

In  the  Stockade,  with  the  exception  of  the  damp  lowlands 
bordering  the  small  stream,  the  surface  was  covered  with  huts, 
and  small  ragged  tents  and  parts  of  blankets  and  fragments  of 
oil-cloth,  coats,  and  blankets  stretched  upon  sticks.  The  tents 
and  huts  were  not  arranged  according  to  any  order,  and  there 
was  in  most  parts  of  the  enclosure  scarcely  room  for  two  men 
to  walk  abreast  between  the  tents  and  huts. 

•  *«*««*» 

If  one  might  judge  from  the  large  pieces  of  corn-bread  scat 
tered  about  in  every  direction  on  the  ground  the  prisoners  were 
either  very  lavishly  supplied  with  this  article  of  diet,  or  else  this 
kind  of  food  was  not  relished  by  them. 

Each  day  the  dead  from  the  Stockade  were  carried  out  by 
their  fellow-prisoners  and  deposited  upon  the  ground  under  a 
bush  arbor,  just  outside  of  the  Southwestern  Gate.  From 
thence  they  were  carried  in  carts  to  the  burying  ground,  one- 
quarter  of  a  mile  northwest  of  the  Prison.  The  dead  were 
buried  without  coffins,  side  by  side,  in  trenches  four  feet  deep. 

The  low  grounds  bordering  the  stream  were  covered  with 
human  excrements  and  filth  of  all  kinds,  which  in  many  places 
appeared  to  be  alive  with  working  maggots.  An  indescribable 
sickening  stench  arose  from  these  fermenting  masses  of  human 
filth. 

There  were  near  five  thousand  seriously  ill  Federals  in  the 
Stockade  and  Confederate  States  Military  Prison  Hospital,  and 
the  deaths  exceeded  one  hundred  per  day,  and  large  numbers  of 
the  prisoners  who  were  walking  about,  and  who  had  not  been 
entered  upon  the  sick  reports,  were  suffering  from  severe  and 
incurable  diarrhea,  dysentery,  and  scurvy.  The  sick  were 
attended  almost  entirely  by  their  fellow-prisoners,  appointed  as 
nurses,  and  as  they  received  but  little  attention,  they  were  com 
pelled  to  exert  themselves  at  all  times  to  attend  to  the  calls  of 
nature,  and  hence  they  retained  the  power  of  moving  about  to 
within  a  comparatively  short  period  of  the  close  of  life.  Owing 


A  BTOST  OF  EKBEL  MILITASY  PEISONSw 


807 


to  the  slow  progress  of  the  diseases  most  prevalent,  diarrhea 
and  chronic  dysentery,  the  corpses  were  as  a  general  rule 
emaciated. 

I  visited  two  thousand  sick  within  the  Stockade,  lying  under 


BURYING    THE    DEAD. 
(From  a  Rebel  photograph  in  possession  of  the  Author.) 

some  long  sheds  which  had  been  built  at  the  northern  portion 
for  themselves.  At  this  time  only  one  medical  officer  was  in 
attendance,  whereas  at  least  twenty  medical  omcers  should  have 
been  employed. 

***  ***** 

Died  in  the  Stccki.de  from  it.3  organization.  FebMary24,  1884  to  September  21 4,554 

Died  in  Hospital  during  earae  rime . „.— . 6,225 

Total  deaths  in  Hospital  and  Stockade 8,479 

Scurvy,  diarrhea,  dysentery,  and  hospital  gangrene  were  the 
prevailing  diseases.  I  was  surprised  to  find  but  few  cases  of 
malarial  fever,  and  no  well-marked  cases  either  of  typhas  or 
typhoid  fever.  The  absence  of  the  different  forms  of  malarial 
fever  may  be  accounted  for  in  the  supposition  that  the  artificial 
atmosphere  oi  the  Stockade,  crowded  densely  with  kumaa 


808  AJTDERSONYILLX. 

beings  and  loaded  with  animal  exhalations,  was  unfavorable  to 
the  existence  and  action  of  the  malarial  poison.  The  absence 
of  typhoid  and  typhus  fevers  amongst  all  the  causes  which  are 
supposed  to  generate  these  diseases,  appeared  to  be  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  great  majority  of  these  prisoners  had  been  in  cap 
tivity  in  v  Virginia,  at  Belle  Island,  and  in  other  parts  of  the 
Confederacy  for  months,  and  even  as  long  as  two  years,  and 
during  this  time  they  had  been  subjected  to  the  same  bad  influ 
ences,  and  those  who  had  not  had  these  fevers  before  either  had 
them  during  their  confinement  in  Confederate  prisons  or  else 
their  systems,  from  long  exposure,  were  proof  against  their 
action. 

The  effects  of  scurvy  were  manifested  on  every  hand,  and  in 
all  its  various  stages,  from  the  muddy,  pale  complexion,  pale 
gums,  feeble,  languid  muscular  motions,  lowness  of  spirits,  and 
fetid  breath,  to  the  dusky,  dirty,  leaden  complexion,  swollen 
features,  spongy,  purple,  livid,  fungoid,  bleeding  gums,  loose 
teeth,  oadematous  limbs,  covered  with  livid  vibices,  and  petechiae 
spasmodically  flexed,  painful  and  hardened  extremities,  sponta 
neous  hemorrhages  from  mucous  canals,  and  large,  ill-condi 
tioned,  spreading  ulcers  covered  with  a  dark  purplish  fungus 
growth.  I  observed  that  in  some  of  the  cases  of  scurvy  the 
parotid  glands  were  greatly  swollen,  and  in  some  instances  to 
such  an  extent  as  to  preclude  entirely  the  power  to  articulate, 
In  several  cases  of  dropsy  of  the  abdomen  and  lower  extreme- 
lies  supervening  upon  scurvy,  the  patients  affirmed  that  pre 
viously  to  the  appearance  of  the  dropsy  they  had  suffered  with 
profuse  and  obstinate  diarrhea,  and  that  when  this  was  checked 
by  a  change  of  diet,  from  Indian  corn-bread  baked  with  the 
huslc,  to  boiled  rice,  the  dropsy  appeared.  The  severe  pains 
and  livid  patches  were  frequently  associated  with  swellings  in 
various  parts,  and  especially  in  the  lower  extremities,  accompan 
ied  with  stiffness  and  contractions  of  the  knee  joints  and  ankles, 
and  often  with  a  brawny  feel  of  the  parts,  as  if  lymph  had  been 
effused  between  the  integuments  and  apeneuroses,  preventing 
the  motion  of  the  skin  over  the  swollen  parts.  Many  of  the  pris 
oners  believed  that  the  scurvy  was  contagious,  and  I  saw  men 
guarding  their  wells  and  springs;  fearing  lest  some  man  suffer 
ing  \vitb  the  scurvy  might  use  the  water  and  thus  poison  thorn. 


A  8TOBT  OF  REBEL  1OLITABT  PRISONS.  309 

I  observed  also  numerous  cases  of  hospital  gangrene,  and  of 
spreading  scorbutic  ulcers,  which  had  supervened  upon  slight 
injuries.  The  scorbutic  ulcers  presented  a  dark,  purple  fungoid, 
elevated  surface,  with  livid  swollen  edges,  and  exuded  a  thin, 
fetid,  sanious  fluid,  instead  of  pus.  Many  ulcers  which  origi 
nated  from  the  scorbutic  condition  of  the  system  appeared  to 
become  truly  gangrenous,  assuming  all  the  characteristics  of 
hospital  gangrene.  From  the  crowded  condition,  filthy  habits, 
bad  diet,  and  dejected,  depressed  condition  of  the  prisoners, 
their  systems  had  become  so  disordered  that  the  smallest  abra- 
son  of  the  skin,  from  the  rubbing  of  a  shoe,  or  from  the  effects 
of  the  sun,  or  from  the  prick  of  a  splinter,  or  from  scratching, 
or  a  musketo  bite,  in  some  cases,  took  on  rapid  and  frightful 
ulceration  and  gangrene.  The  long  use  of  salt  meat,  ofttimes 
imperfectly  cured,  as  well  as  the  most  total  deprivation  of  veg 
etables  and  fruit,  appeared  to  be  the  chief  causes  of  the  scurvy. 
I  carefully  examined  the  bakery  and  the  bread  furnished  the 
prisoners,  and  found  that  they  were  supplied  almost  entirely 
with  corn-bread  from  which  the  husk  had  not  been  separated. 
This  husk  acted  as  an  irritant  to  the  alimentary  canal,  without 
adding  any  nutriment  to  the  bread.  As  far  as  my  examination 
extended  no  fault  could  be  found  with  the  mode  in  which  the 
bread  was  baked ;  the  difficulty  lay  in  the  failure  to  separate 
the  husk  from  the  corn-meal.  I  strongly  urged  the  preparation  of 
large  quantities  of  soup  made  from  the  cow  and  calves'  heads 
with  the  brains  and  tongues,  to  which  a  liberal  supply  of  sweet 
potatos  and  vegetables  might  have  been  advantageously  added. 
The  material  existed  in  abundance  for  the  preparation  of  such 
soup  in  large  quantities  with  but  little  additional  expense. 
Such  aliment  would  have  been  not  only  highly  nutritious,  but 
it  would  also  have  acted  as  an  efficient  remedial  agent  for 
the  removal  of  the  scorbutic  condition.  The  sick  within  the 
Stockade  lay  under  several  long  sheds  which  were  originally 
built  for  barracks.  These  sheds  covered  two  floors  which  were 
open  on  all  sides.  The  sick  lay  upon  the  bare  boards,  or  upon 
such  ragged  blankets  as  they  possessed,  without,  as  far  as  I 
observed,  any  bedding  or  even  straw. 

•A-  *  rf  •*  *  *  *  # 

The  haggard,  distressed  countenances  of  these  miserable,  com- 


810  AJTOBRSOITTTLUB. 

• 

plaining,  dejected,  living  skeletons,  crying  for  medical  aid  and 
food,  and  cursing  their  Government  for  its  refusal  to  exchange 
prisoners,  and  the  ghastly  corpses,  with  their  glazed  eve  balls 
staring  up  into  vacant  space,  with  the  flies  swarming  down 
their  open  and  grinning  mouths,  and  over  their  ragged  clothes, 
infested  with  numerous  lice,  as  they  lay  amongst  the  sick  and 
dying,  formed  a  picture  of  helpless,  hopeless  misery  which  it 
would  be  impossible  to  portray  by  words  or  by  the  brush.  A 
feeling  of  disappointment  and  even  resentment  on  account  of 
the  United  States  Government  upon  the  subject  of  the  exchange 
of  prisoners,  appeared  to  be  widespread,  and  the  apparent  hope 
less  nature  of  the  negotiations  for  some  general  exchange  of 
prisoners  appeared  to  be  a  cause  of  universal  regret  and  deep 
and  injurious  despondency.  I  heard  some  of  the  prisoners  go 
so  far  as  to  exonerate  the  Confederate  Government  from  any 
charge  of  intentionally  subjecting  them  to  a  protracted  confine 
ment,  with  its  necessary  and  unavoidable  sufferings,  in  a  coun 
try  cut  off  from  all  intercourse  with  foreign  nations,  and  sorely 
pressed  on  all  sides,  whilst  on  the  other  hand  they  charged 
their  prolonged  captivity  upon  their  own  Government,  which 
was  attempting  to  make  the  negro  equal  to  the  white  man. 
Some  hundred  or  more  of  the  prisoners  had  been  released  from 
confinement  in  the  Stockade  on  parole,  and  filled  various  offices 
as  clerks,  druggists,  and  carpenters,  etc.,  in  the  various  depart 
ments.  These  men  were  well  clothed,  and  presented  a  stout 
and  healthy  appearance,  and  as  a  general  rule  they  presented  a 
much  more  robust  and  healthy  appearance  than  the  Confederate 
troops  guarding  the  prisoners. 

*****»*» 

The  entire  grounds  are  surrounded  by  a  frail  board  fence, 
and  are  strictly  guarded  by  Confederate  soldiers,  and  no  pris 
oner  except  the  paroled  attendants  is  allowed  to  leave  the 
grounds  except  by  a  special  permit  from  the  Commandant  of 
tne  Interior  of  the  Prison. 

The  patients  and  attendants,  near  two  thousand  in  number, 
are  crowded  into  this  confined  space  and  are  but  poorly  sup 
plied  with  old  and  ragged  tents.  Large  numbers  of  them  were 
without  any  bunks  in  the  tents,  and  lay  upon  the  ground, 
oft-times  without  even  a  blanket.  Itfo  beds  or  straw  appeared 


A.  STORY  OF  REBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS.  Gil 

to  have  been  furnished.  The  tents  extend  to  within  a  few 
yards  of  the  small  stream,  the  eastern  portion  of  which,  as  we 
have  before  said,  is  used  as  a  privy  and  is  loaded  with  excre 
ments;  and  I  observed  a  large  pile  of  corn-bread,  bones,  and 
filth  of  all  kinds,  thirty  feet  in  diameter  and  several  feet  in 
hight,  swarming  with  myriads  of  flies,  in  a  vacant  space  near 
the  pots  used  for  cooking.  Millions  of  flies  swarmed  over 
everything,  and  covered  the  faces  of  the  sleeping  patients,  and 
crawled  down  their  open  mouths,  and  deposited  their  maggots 
in  the  gangrenous  wounds  of  the  living,  and  in  the  mouths  of 
the  dead.  Musketos  in  great  numbers  also  infested  the  tents, 
and  many  of  the  patients  were  so  stung  by  these  pestiferous 
insects,  that  they  resembled  those  suffering  from  a  slight  attack 
of  the  measles. 

The  police  and  hygiene  of  the  hospital  were  defective  in  the 
extreme ;  the  attendants,  who  appeared  in  almost  every 
instance  to  have  been  selected  from  the  prisoners,  seemed  to 
have  in  many  cases  but  little  interest  in  tiie  welfare  of  their 
fellow-captives.  The  accusation  was  made  that  the  nurses  in 
many  cases  robbed  the  sick  of  their  clothing,  money,  and  rations, 
and  carried  on  a  clandestine  trade  with  the  paroled  prisoners  and 
Confederate  guards  without  the  hospital  enclosure,  in  the  cloth 
ing,  effects  of  the  sick,  dying,  and  dead  Federals.  They  certainly 
appeared  to  neglect  the  comfort  and  cleanliness  of  the  sick 
intrusted  to  their  care  in  a  most  shameful  manner,  even  after 
making  due  allowances  for  the  difficulties  of  the  situation. 
Many  of  the  sick  were  literally  encrusted  with  dirt  and  filth 
and  covered  with  vermin.  When  a  gangrenous  wound  needed 
washing,  the  limb  was  thrust  out  a  little  from  the  blanket,  or 
board,  or  rags  upon  which  the  patient  was  lying,  and  water 
poured  over  it,  and  all  the  putrescent  matter  allowed  to  soak 
into  the  ground  floor  of  the  tent.  The  supply  of  rags  for  dress 
ing  wounds  was  said  to  be  very  scant,  and  I  saw  the  most  filthy 
rags  which  had  been  applied  several  times,  and  imperfectly 
washed,  used  in  dressing  wounds.  V>There  hospital  gangrene 
was  prevailing,  it  was  impossible  for  any  wound  to  escape  con 
tagion  under  these  circumstances.  The  results  of  the  treatment 
of  wounda  in  the  hospital  were  of  the  most  unsnusfa/ctory  char- 


313 


I  UJBiAO  UH  V 


ILLS. 


acter.  from  this  neglect  of  cleanliness,  in  the  dressings  and 
wounds  themselves,  as  well  as  from  various  otiier  causes  which 
will  be  more  fully  considered.  I  saw  several  gangrenous 
wounds  filled  with  maggots.  I  haye  frequently  seen  neglected 
wounds  amongst  the  Confederate  soldiers  similarly  affected; 


..*,§!        i^ 


<5feStS 


THE    GRAVEYARD  AT  AXDERSONVTLLE   AS    THE    REBELS    LEFT   IT. 
OTrom  a  Rebel  photograph  in  possession  of  the  Author.) 

and  as  far  as  my  experience  extends,  these  worms  destroy  only 
the  dead  tissues  and  do  not  injure  specially  the  well  parts.  I 
have  even  heard  surgeons  affirm  that  a  gangrenous  wound 
which  had  been  thoroughly  cleansed  by  maggots,  healed  more 
rapidly  than  if  it  had  been  left  to  itself.  This  want  of  cleanli 
ness  on  the  part  of  the  nurses  appeared  to  be  ths  result  of  care 
lessness  and  inattention,  rather  than  of  malignant  design,  and 
the  whole  trouble  can  be  traced  to  the  want  of  the  proper 


A  8TOBT  OF  BXBKL  HELTTAIiT  PEIBOITB*  813 

police  and  sanitary  regulations,  and  to  the  absence  of  intelligent 
organization  and  division  of  labor.  The  abuses  were  in  a  large 
measure  dire  to  the  almost  total  absence  of  system,  govern 
ment,  and  rigid,  but  wholesome  sanitary  regulations.  la 
extenuation  of  these  abuses  it  was  alleged  by  the  medical  offi 
cers  that  the  Confederate  troops  were  barely  sufficient  to  guard 
the  prisoners,  and  that  it  was  impossible  to  obtain  any  number 
of  experienced  nurses  from  the  Confederate  forces.  In  fact  the 
guard  appeared  to  be  too  small,  even  for  the  regulation  of  the 
internal  hygiene  and  police  of  the  hospital. 

The  manner  of  disposing  of  the  dead  was  also  calculated  to 
depress  the  already  desponding  spirits  of  these  men,  many  of 
whom  have  been  confined  for  months,  and  even  for  nearly  two 
years  in  Richmond  and  other  places,  and  whose  strength  had 
been  wasted  by  bad  air,  bad  food,  and  neglect  of  personal  clean 
liness.  The  dead-house  is  merely  a  frame  covered  with  old 
tent  cloth  and  a  few  bushes,  situated  in  the  southwestern  corner 
of  the  hospital  grounds.  When  a  patient  dies,  he  is  simply  laid 
in  the  narrow  street  in  front  of  his  tent,  until  he  is  removed  by 
Federal  negrcs  detailed  to  carry  off  the  dead ;  if  a  patient  dies 
during  the  night,  he  lies  there  until  the  morning,  and  during 
the  day  even  the  dead  were  frequently  allowed  to  remain  for 
hours  in  these  walks.  In  the  dead-house  the  corpses  lie  upon 
the  bare  ground,  and  were  in  most  cases  covered  with  filth  and 

vermin. 

**«*  *  *  *  * 

The  cooking  arrangements  are  of  the  most  defective  character- 
Five  large  iron  pots  similar  to  those  used  for  boiling  sugar  cane, 
appeared  to  be  the  only  cooking  utensils  furnished  by  the  hos 
pital  for  the  cooking  of  nearly  two  thousand  men;  and  the 
patients  were  dependent  in  great  measure  upon  their  own  mis 
erable  utensils.  They  were  allowed  to  cook  in  the  tent  doors 
and  in  the  lanes,  and  this  was  another  source  of  filth,  and 
another  favorable  condition  for  the  generation  and  multiplica 
tion  of  flies  and  other  vermin. 

The  air  of  the  tents  was  foul  and  disagreeable  in  the  extreme, 
and  in  fact  the  entire  grounds  emitted  a  most  nauseous  and  dis 
gusting  smelL  I  entered  nearly  all  the  tents  and  carefully; 


314  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

examined  the  oases  of  interest,  and  especially  tlie  cases  of  gan 
grene,  upon  numerous  occasions,  during  the  prosecution  of  my 
pathological  inquiries  at  Andersonville,  and  therefore  enjoyed 
every  opportunity  to  judge  correctly  of  the  hygiene  and  police 
of  the  hospital. 

There  appeared  to  be  almost  absolute  indifference  and  neg 
lect  on  the  part  of  the  patients  of  personal  cleanliness ;  their 
persons  and  clothing  in  most  instances,  and  especially  of  those 
suffering  with  gangrene  and  scorbutic  ulcers,  were  filthy  in  the 
extreme  and  covered  with  vermin.  It  was  too  often  the  case 
that  patients  were  received  from  the  Stockade  in  a  most  deplor 
able  condition.  I  have  seen  men  brought  in  from  the  Stockade 
in  a  dying  condition,  begrimed  from  head  to  foot  with  their 
own  excrements,  and  so  black  from  smoke  and  filth  that  they 
resembled  negros  rather  than  white  men.  That  this  descrip 
tion,  of  the  Stockade  and  hospital  has  not  been  overdrawn,  will 
appear  from  the  reports  of  the  surgeons  in  charge,  appended  to 
this  report. 

******* 

We  will  examine  first  the  consolidated  report  of  the  sick  and 
wounded  Federal  prisoners.  During  six  months,  from  the  1st 
of  March  to  the  31st  of  August,  forty-two  thousand  six  hun 
dred  and  eighty-six  cases  of  diseases  and  wounds  were  reported. 
No  classified  record  of  the  sick  in  the  Stockade  was  kept  after 
the  establishment  of  the  hospital  without  the  Prison.  This 
fact,  in  conjunction  with  those  already  presented  relating  to 
the  insufficiency  of  medical  officers  and  the  extreme  illness  and 
even  death  of  many  prisoners  in  the  tents  in  the  Stockade, 
without  any  medical  attention  or  record  beyond  the  bare  num 
ber  of  the  dead,  demonstrate  that  these  figures,  large  as  they 
appear  to  be,  are  far  below  the  truth. 

As  the  number  of  prisoners  varied  greatly  at  different  periods, 
the  relations  between  those  reported  sick  and  well,  as  far  as 
those  statistics  extend,  can  best  be  determined  by  a  comparison 
of  the  statistics  of  each  month.  The  following  table  presents 
the  mean  strength,  the  total  diseases  and  deaths,  and  the  total 
cases  and  deaths  of  the  most  fatal  diseases : 


A  8TOET  OF  REBEL  MTL1TABT  ITL 


Table  illustrating  the  mean  strength,  total  cases  of  disease  and  death ,  and  the  refa. 
tions  of  the  cases  and  deaths  of  the  most  fatal  diseases  among  the  Federal  pri»- 
oners  confined  at  Anderson-mile,  Ga.  (Consolidated  from  the  original  report* 
on  file  in  the  office  of  the  Surgeon  in  charge  of  the  post  of  Andersonville,  by 
Joseph  Jones,  Surgeon  Provisional  Army  Confederate  State*,) 


1864. 

March. 

April. 

May. 

June. 

July. 

August. 

TotaL 

Mean  strength,  Federal  prisoners  .. 
Total  taken  sick  or  wounded  dur- 

7,500 
1  530 

10,000 
2  425 

15,000 
8  PS3 

22,291 

7  968 

29,080 
10  834 

82,899 

11  846 

42,088 

Ratio  of  s;ck  to  wtilp  one  t»ick  in  — 

4  9-10 

4  8-100 

1  7-10 

2  8-10 

2  6-10 

2  9-10 

Total  deaths  from  ail  CJIUPPS      

283 

576 

708 

1,201 

1,952 

2,992 

7,718 

Per  cent,  of  deaths  to  pick  entered 

18  42 

23  7 

8  2 

15  0 

18  1 

263 

One    death    in    eo  many   sick  and 

26  4 

17.3 

21  18 

18  5 

14.8 

10.9 

,Per  cent,  of  deaths  to  mean  strength, 

3  77 

5  76 

4  72 

6  38 

6  64 

9  09 

Typhoid  lever  — 
Ca'-es                                            ... 

67 

56 

92 

18 

39 

200 

4TJ 

28 

18 

17 

32 

58 

32 

185 

Congestive  fever— 

5 

1 

1 

g 

Death*                          

1 

2 

2 

8 

Intern::  -rtont  fever,  quotidian  — 
Ca^f^ 

10 

481 

205 

150 

824 

1  170 

4 

9 

29 

56 

(uternnitent  fever,  tertian— 

35 

24 

885 

192 

139 

775 

2 

3 

Intermittent  fever,  quartern  — 

114 

25 

66 

195 

Remittent  fever— 

37 

10 

181 

240 

468 

5 

1 

g 

13 

... 

23 

Bilious  remittent  fever— 

160 

190 

850 

15 

12 

27 

Pneumonia  — 

102 

IDS 

103 

21 

28 

116 

528 

Deaths            ..................... 

65 

58 

28 

41 

27 

15 

234 

Scurvy- 

15 

50 

1,221 

2,097 

3,092 

3,026 

9,501 

14 

68 

195 

722 

999 

Acute  diarrhoea  — 

S"6 

916 

1,729 

1,966 

3,796 

1,982 

9,775 

51 

220 

251 

330 

517 

792 

2,161 

Chr<  .nic  diarrhoea  — 

95 

235 

608 

510 

349 

520 

2315 

26 

115 

171 

447 

330 

280 

1,369 

Acute  dysentery  — 
Cases 

143 

133 

870 

540 

999 

859 

8  549 

Deaths            --  .  ..  ..... 

29 

49 

93 

98 

215 

o€4 

&43 

Chronic  dysentery— 

42 

51 

407 

271 

ISO 

187 

1  138 

27 

8 

5 

27 

72 

151 

ltor:>iben  — 

100 

6 

9 

203 

156 

474 

17 

3 

8 

181 

156 

635 

Dropsy— 

23 

82 

233 

248 

804 

665 

1  510 

Deatiia... 

•2 

6 

50 

71 

66 

120 

315 

During  this  period  of  six  months  no  less  than  five  hundred 
and  sixty-nve  deaths  are  recorded  under  the  head  of  morbi 
vanie.  In  other  words,  those  men  died  without  having  received 


316  AWDEB80NVILLE. 

sufficient  medical  attention  for  the  determination  of  even  tho 
name  of  the  disease  causing  death. 

During  the  month  of  August  fifty-three  cases  and  fifty-three 
deaths  are  recorded  as  due  to  marasmus.  Surely  this  large 
number  of  deaths  must  have  been  due  to  some  other  morbid 
state  than  slow  wasting.  If  they  were  due  to  improper  and 
insufficient  food,  they  should  have  been  classed  accordingly, 
and  if  to  diarrhea  or  dysentery  or  scurvy,  the  classification 
should  in  like  manner  have  been  explicit. 

"We  observe  a  progressive  increase  of  the  rate  of  mortality, 
from  3.11  per  cent,  in  March  to  9.09  per  cent,  of  mean  strength, 
sick  and  well,  in  August.  The  ratio  of  mortality  continued  to 
increase  during  September,  for  notwithstanding  the  removal  of 
one-half  of  the  entire  number  of  prisoners  during  the  early 
portion  of  the  month,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty- 
seven  (1,767)  deaths  are  registered  from  September  1  to  21,  and 
the  largest  number  of  deaths  upon  any  one  day  occurred  during 
this  month,  on  the  16th,  viz. :  one  hundred  and  nineteen. 

The  entire  number  of  Federal  prisoners  confined  at  Anderson- 
ville  was  about  forty  thousand  six  hundred  and  eleven ;  and  dur] 
ing  the  period  of  near  seven  months,  from  February  24  to  Septem 
ber  21,  nine  thousand  four  hundred  and  seventy-nine  (9,479) 
deaths  were  recorded ;  that  is,  during  this  period  near  one-fourth, 
or  more,  exactly  one  in  4.2,  or  £3.3  per  cent.,  terminated  fatally. 
This  increase  of  mortality  was  clue  in  great  measure  to  the 
accumulation  of  the  sources  of  disease,  as  the  increase  of  excre 
ments  and  filth  of  all  kinds,  and  the  concentration  of  noxious 
effluvia,  and  also  to  the  progressive  effects  of  salt  diet,  crowding, 
and  the  hot  climate. 

CONCLUSIONS. 

1st.  The  great  mortality  among  the  Federal  prisoners  con 
fined  hi  the  military  prison  at  Andcrsonville  \\'us  not  referable 
to  climatic  causes,  or  to  the  nature  of  the  soil  and  waters. 

2d.  The  chief  causes  of  death  were  scurvy  and  its  results  and 
bowel  affections  —  chronic  and  acute  diarrhea  and  dysentery. 
The  bowel  affections  appear  to  have  been  due  to  the  diet,  the 
habits  of  the  patients,  the  depressed,  dejected  state  of  the  ner 
vous  system  and  moral  ami  \ntellectual  powers,  and  to  tlia 


A  STOBY  OF  EEBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS.  317 

effluvia  arising  from  the  decomposing  animal  and  vegetable 
filth.  The  effects  of  salt  meat,  and  an  unvarvin^  diet  of  corn- 

«.'          O 

meal,  with  but  few  vegetables,  and  imperfect  supplies  of  vinegar 
and  syrup,  were  manifested  in  the  great  prevalence  of  scurvy* 
This  disease,  without  doubt,  was  also  influenced  to  an  important 
extent  in  its  origin  and  course  by  the  foul  animal  emanations. 

3d.  From  the  sameness  of  the  food  and  form,  the  action  of 
the  poisonous  gases  in  the  densely  crowded  and  filthy  Stockade 
and  hospital,  the  blood  was  altered  in  its  constitution,  even 
before  the  manifestation  of  actual  disease.  In  both  the  well 
and  the  sick  the  red  corpuscles  were  diminished ;  and  in  all 
diseases  uncomplicated  with  inflammation,  the  fibrous  element 
was  deficient.  In  cases  of  ulceration  of  the  mucous  membrane 
of  the  intestinal  canal,  the  fibrous  element  of  the  blood  was 
increased  ;  while  in  simple  diarrhea,  uncomplicated  with  ulcera 
tion,  it  was  either  diminished  or  else  remained  stationary. 
Heart  clots  were  very  common,  if  not  universally  present,  in 
cases  of  ulceration  of  the  intestinal  mucous  membrane,  while 
in  the  uncomplicated  cases  of  diarrhea  and  scurvy,  the  blood 
was  fluid  and  did  not  coagulate  readily,  and  the  heart  clots  and 
fibrous  concretions  were  almost  universally  absent.  From  the 
watery  condition  of  the  blood,  there  resulted  various  serous 
effusions  into  the  pericardium,  ventricles  of  the  brain,  and  into 
the  abdomen.  In  almost  all  the  cases  which  I  examined  after 
death,  even  the  most  emaciated,  there  was  more  or  less  serous 
effusion  into  the  abdominal  cavity.  In  cases  of  hospital  gan 
grene  of  the  extremities,  and  in  cases  of  gangrene  of  the 
intestines,  heart  clots  and  fibrous  coagula  were  universally 
present.  Tho  presence  of  those  clots  in  the  cases  of  hospital 
gangrene,  while  they  were  absent  in  the  cases  in  which  there 
was  no  inflammatory  symptoms,  sustains  the  conclusion  that 
hospital  gangrene  is  a  species  of  inflammation,  imperfect  and 
irregular  though  it  may  be  in  its  progress,  in  which  the  fibrous 
element  and  coagulation  of  the  blood  are  increased,  even  in 
those  who  are  suffering  from  such  a  condition  of  the  blood, 
and  from  such  diseases  as  are  naturally  accompanied  with  a 
decrease  in  the  fibrous  constituent. 

4th.  The  fact  that  hospital  gangrene  appeared  in  the  Stockade 
first,  and  ungmaied  spontaneously  without  any  previous  con- 


$18 

tagion,  and  occurred  sporadically  all  over  the  Stockade  and 
prison  hospital,  was  proof  positive  that  this  disease  will  arise 
whenever  the  conditions  of  crowding,  filth,  foul  air,  and  bad 
diet  are  present.  The  exhalations  from  the  hospital  and 
Stockade  appeared  to  exert  their  effects  to  a  considerable  dis 
tance  outside  of  these  localities.  The  origin  of  hospital  gan 
grene  among  these  prisoners  appeared  clearly  to  depend  in 
great  measure  upon  the  state  of  the  general  system  induced  oy 
diet,  and  various  external  noxious  influences.  The  rapidity  of 
the  appearance  and  action  of  the  gangrene  depended  upon  the 
powers  and  state  of  the  constitution,  as  well  as  upon  the  inten 
sity  of  the  poison  in  the  atmosphere,  or  upon  the  direct  appli 
cation  of  poisonous  matter  to  the  wounded  surface.  This  was 
further  illustrated  by  the  important  fact  that 'hospital  gangrene, 
or  a  disease  resembling  it  in  all  essential  respects,  attacked  the 
intestinal  canal  of  patients  laboring  under  ulceration  of  the 
bowels,  although  there  were  no  local  manifestations  of  gangrene 
upon  the  surface  of  the  body.  This  mode  of  termination  in 
cases  of  dysentery  was  quite  common  in  the  foul  atmosphere  of 
the  Confederate  States  Alilitary  Hospital,  in  the  depressed, 
depraved  condition  of  the  system  of  these  Federal  prisoners. 

5th.  A  scorbutic  condition  of  the  system  appeared  to  favofc 
the  origin  of  foul  ulcers,  which  frequently  took  on  true  hospital 
gangrene.  Scurvy  and  hospital  gangrene  frequently  existed 
in  the  same  individual.  In  such  cases,  vegetable  diet,  with 
vegetable  acids,  would  remove  the  scorbutic  condition  without 
curing  the  hospital  gangrene.  From  the  results  of  the  existing 
war  for  the  establishment  of  the  independence  of  the  Confede 
rate  States,  as  well  as  from  the  published  observations  of  Dr. 
Trotter,  bir  Gilbert  Blane,  and  others  of  the  English  navy  and 
army,  it  is  evident  that  the  scorbutic  condition  of  the  system, 
especially  in  crowded  ships  and  camps,  is  most  favorable  to  the 
origin  and  spread  of  foul  ulcers  and  hospital  gangrene.  As  in 
the  present  caae  of  Anderson ville,  so  also  in  past  times  when 
medical  hygiene  was  almost  entirely  neglected,  those  two 
diseases  were  almost  universally  associated  in  crowded  ships. 
In  many  cases  it  was  very  difficult  to  decide  at  first  whether 
the  nicer  was  a  simple  result  of  scurvy  or  of  the  action  of  the 
prison  or  hospital  gangrene,  for  there  was  great  similarity  in 


A  8TOBT  OF  KXBXL  MTLIT AH Y  PRISONS.  319 

the  appearance  of  the  ulcers  in  the  two  diseases.  So  commonly 
have  those  two  diseases  been  combined  in  their  origin  and 
action,  that  the  description  of  scorbutic  ulcers,  by  many  authors, 
evidently  includes  also  many  of  the  prominent  characteristics 
of  hospital  gangrene.  This  will  be  rendered  evident  by  an 
examination  of  the  observations  of  Dr.  Lind  and  Sir  Gilbert 
Blane  upon  scorbutic  ulcers. 

6th.  Gangrenous  spots  followed  by  rapid  destruction  of  tissue 
appeared  in  some  cases  where  there  had  been  no  known  wound. 
Without  such  well-established  facts,  it  might  be  assumed  that 
the  disease  was  propagated  from  one  patient  to  another.  In 
such  a  filthy  and  crowded  hospital  as  that  of  the  Confederate 
States  Military  Prison  at  Andersonville,  it  was  impossible  to 
isolate  the  wounded  from  the  sources  of  actual  contact  of  the 
gangrenous  matter.  The  flies  swarming  over  the  wounds  and 
over  filth  of  every  kind,  the  filthy,  imperfectly  washed  and 
scanty  supplies  of  rags,  and  the  limited  supply  of  washing 
utensils,  the  same  wash-bowl  serving  for  scores  of  patients, 
were  sources  of  such  constant  circulation  of  the  gangrenous 
matter  that  the  disease  might  rapidly  spread  from  a  single  gan 
grenous  wound.  The  fact  already  stated,  that  a  form  of  moist 
gangrene,  resembling  hospital  gangrene,  was  quite  common  in 
this  foul  atmosphere,  in  cases  of  dysentery,  both  with  and  with 
out  the  existence  of  the  disease  upon  the  entire  surface,  not  only 
demonstrates  the  dependence  of  the  disease  upon  the  state  of 
the  constitution,  but  proves  in  the  clearest  manner  that  neither 
the  contact  of  the  poisonous  matter  of  gangrene,  nor  the  direct 
action  of  the  poisonous  atmosphere  upon  the  ulcerated  surface 
is  necessary  to  the  development  of  the  disease. 

7th.  In  this  foul  atmosphere  amputation  did  not  arrest  hos 
pital  gangrene;  the  disease  almost  invariably  returned.  Almost 
every  amputation  was  followed  finallv  by  death,  either  from 
the  effects  of  gangrene  or  from  the  prevailing  diarrhea  and 
dysentery.  Xitric  acid  and  escharotics  generally  in  this 
crowded  atmosphere,  loaded  with  noxious  eliluvia,  exerted  only 
temporary  effects ;  after  their  application  to  the  diseased  sur 
faces,  the  ii'iinirrene  would  frequently  return  with  redoubled 
energy ;  and  even  after  the  ^rangrono  had  been  completely 
removed  by  local  and  constitutional  treatment,  it  would  fre« 


820  •  ANDEBSOKVILLB. 

\ 

qnently  return  and  destroy  the  patient.  As  far  as  my  observ 
ation  extended,  very  few  of  the  cases  of  amputation  for  gan 
grene  recovered.  The  progress  of  these  cases  was  frequently 
very  deceptive.  I  have  observed  after  death  the  most  exten 
sive  disorganization  of  the  structures  of  the  stump,  when  dur 
ing  life  there  was  but  little  swelling  of  the  part,  and  the  patient 
was  apparently  doing  well.  I  endeavored  to  impress  upon  the 
medical  officers  the  view  that  in  this  disease  treatment  was 
almost  useless,  without  an  abundant  supply  of  pure,  fresh  air, 
nutritious  food,  and  tonics  and  stimulants.  Such  changes,  how 
ever,  as  would  allow  of  the  isolation  of  the  cases  of  hospital 
gangrene  appeared  to  be  out  of  the  power  of  the  medical  officers. 

8th.  The  gangrenous  mass  was  without  true  pus,  and  con 
sisted  chiefly  of  broken-down,  disorganized  structures.  The 
reaction  of  the  gangrenous  matter  in  certain  stages  was  alkaline. 

9th.  The  best,  and  in  truth  the  only  means  of  protecting 
large  armies  and  navies,  as  well  as  prisoners,  from  the  ravages 
of  hospital  gangrene,  is  to  furnish  liberal  supplies  of  well-cured 
meat,  together  with  fresh  beef  and  vegetables,  and  to  enforce  a 
rigid  system  of  hygiene. 

10th.  Finally,  this  gigantic  mass  of  human  misery  calls  loudly 
for  relief,  not  only  for  the  sake  of  suffering  humanity,  but  also 
on  account  of  our  own  brave  soldiers  now  captives  in  the  hands 
of  the  Federal  Government.  Strict  justice  to  the  gallant  men 
of  the  Confederate  Armies,  who  have  been  or  who  may  be,  so 
unfortunate  as  to  be  compelled  to  surrender  in  battle,  demands 
that  the  Confederate  Government  should  adopt  that  coursa 
which  will  best  secure  their  health  and  comfort  in  captivity ;  or 
at  least  leave  their  enemies  without  a  shadow  of  an  excuse  for 
any  violation  of  the  rules  of  civilized  warfare  in  the  treatment 
of  prisoners. 

[End  of  ths  Witness's  Testimony.] 

The  variation  —  from  month  to  month  —  of  the  proportion 
of  deaths  to  the  whole  number  living  is  singular  and  interesting. 
It  supports  the  theory  I  have  advanced  above,  as  the  following 
facts,  taken  from  the  official  report,  will  show  :j 

In  April  one  in  every  sixteen  died. 

In  May  one  in  every  twenty-six  died. 

i  la  June  one  in  every  twenty -two  died* 


A  STORY  OF  EEBEL  MTLITAET  PEISO1T5, 


In  July  one  in  every  eighteen  died. 

In  August  one  in  every  eleven  died. 

In  September  one  in  every  three  died. 

In  October  one  in  every  two  died. 

In  November  one  in  every  three  died. 

Does  the  reader  fully  understand  that  in  September  one- 
third  of  those  in  the  pen  died,  that  in  October  one-half  of  the 
remainder  perished,  and  in  November  one-third  of  those  "who 
still  survived,  died?  Let  him  pause  for  a  moment  and  read 
this  over  carefully  again,  because  its  startling  magnitude  will 
hardly  dawn  upon  him  at  first  reading.  It  is  true  that  the 
fearfully  disproportionate  mortality  of  those  months  was  largely 
due  to  the  fact  that  it  was  mostly  the  sick  that  remained  behind, 
but  even  this  diminishes  but  little  the  frightfulness  of  the  show 
ing.  Did  any  one  ever  hear  of  an  epidemic  so  fatal  that  one- 
third  of  those  attacked  by  it  in  one  month  died  ;  one-half  of  the 
remnant  the  next  month,  and  one-third  of  the  feeble  remainder 
the  next  month?  If  he  did,  his  reading  has  been  much  more 

'  O 

extensive  than  mine. 

The  number  of  prisoners  in  the  Stockade,  the  number  of 
deaths  each  month,  and  the  daily  average  is  given  as  follows : 


MONTHS. 

Number  rn 
Stockade. 

Death*. 

Dally 
Average. 

March                        

4.703 

283 

9 

April 

9  577 

592 

19 

May 

18,454 

711 

23 

June           .             ..........  .....  . 

2ij  3«7 

1,202 

40 

1  742 

56 

31  613 

3  076 

99 

Sopternber  .............  ..........     .....  .. 

8318 

2,790 

90 

October                         .  . 

4  ws 

1,595 

51 

1  359 

485 

10 

• 

The  greatest  number  of  deaths  m  one  day  is  reported  to  have 
occurred  on  the  23d  of  August,  when  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven  died,  or  one  man  every  eleven  minutes. 

The  greatest  number  of  prisoners  in  the  Stockade  is  stated  to 
have  been  August  S.  when  there  were  thirty-three  thousand 
one  hundred  and  fourteen. 

I  have  always  imagined  both  these  statements  to  be  short  of 
the  truth,  because  my  remembrance  is  that  one  day  in  August 


823 

I  counted  over  two  hundred  dead  lying  in  a  row.  As  for  the 
greatest  number  of  prisoners,  I  remember  quite  distinctly 
standing  by  the  ration  wagon  during  the  whole  time  of  the 
delivery  of  rations,  to  see  how  many  prisoners  there  really  were 
inside.  That  day  the  One  Hundred  and  Thirty-Third  Detach 
ment  was  called,  and  its  Sergeant  came  up  and  drew  rations 
for  a  full  detachment.  All  the  other  detachments  were  habi 
tually  kept  full  by  replacing  those  who  died  with  new  comers. 
As  each  detachment  consisted  of  two  hundred  and  seventy 
men,  one  hundred  and  thirty-three  detachments  would  make 
thirty-five  thousand  nine  hundred  and  ten,  exclusive  of  those 
in  the  hospital,  and  those  detailed  outside  as  cooks,  clerks, 
hospital  attendants  and  various  other  employments  —  say  from 
one  to  two  thousand  more. 


CHAPTER  XLIIL 

DIFFICULTY  OF  EXERCISING EMBARRASSMENTS  OF  A  MORNING  WALK 

—  THE  RIALTO  OF  THE    PRISON CURSING  THE  SOUTHERN  CONFED 
ERACY THE    STORY    OF    THE    BATTLE    OF    6POTT8YLVANIA    OOUR1 

HOUSE. 

Certainly  in  no  other  great  community  that  ever  existed  upon 
the  face  of  the  globe  was  there  so  little  daily  ebb  and  now  as 
in  this.  Dull  as  an  ordinary  Town  or  City  may  be ;  however 
monotonous,  eventless,  even  stupid  the  lives  of  its  citizens,  there 
is  yet,  nevertheless,  a  flow  every  day  of  its  life-blood  —  its  pop 
ulation  —  towards  its  heart,  and  an  ebb  of  the  same,  every  even 
ing  towards'  its  extremities.  These  recurring  tides  mingle  all 
classes  together  and  promote  the  general  healthfulness,  as  the 
constant  motion  hither  and  yon  of  the  ocean's  waters  purify 
and  sweeten  them. 

The  lack  of  these  helped  vastly  to  make  the  living  mass 
inside  the  Stockade  a  human  Dead -Sea  —  or  rather  a  Dying 
Sea — a  putrefying,  stinking  lake,  resolving  itself  into  phos 
phorescent  corruption,  like  those  rotting  southern  seas,  whose 
seething  filth  burns  in  hideous  reds,  and  ghastly  greens  and 
yellows. 

Being  little  call  for  motion  of  any  kind,  and  no  room  to 
exercise  whatever  wish  there  might  be  in  that  direction,  very 
many  succumbed  unresistingly  to  the  apathy  which  was  so 
strongly  favored  by  despondency  and  the  weakness  induced  by 
continual  hunger,  and  lying  supinely  on  the  hot  sanJ,  day  in 
and  day  out,  speedily  brought  themselves  into  such  a  condition 
as  invited  the  attacks  of  disease. 

It  required  both  determination  and  effort  to  take  a  little 


C2-1  JLNDESSONYILLE. 

walking  exercise.  The  ground  was  so  densely  crowded  with 
holes  and  other  devices  for  shelter  that  it  took  one  at  least  ten 
minutes  to  pick  his  way  through  the  narrow  and  tortuous 
labyrinth  which  served  as  paths  for  communication  between 
different  parts  of  the  Camp.  Still  further,  there  was  nothing 
to  see  anywhere  or  to  form  sufficient  inducement  for  any  one 
to  make  so  laborious'  a  journey.  One  simply  encountered  at 
every  new  step  the  same  unwelcome  sights  that  he  had  just 
left ;  there  was  a  monotony  in  the  misery  as  in  everything  else, 
and  consequently  the  temptation  to  sit  or  lie  still  in  one's  own 
quarters  became  very  great. 

I  used  to  make  it  a  point  to  go  to  some  of  the  remoter  parts 
of  the  Stockade  once  every  day,  simply  for  exercise.  One  can 
gain  some  idea  of  the  crowd,  and  the  Difficulty  of  making  one's 
way  through  it,  when  I  say  that  no  point  in  the  prison  could 
be  more  than  fifteen  hundred  feet  from  >vhere  I  staid,  and, 
had  the  way  been  clear,  I  could  have  walked  thither  and  back 
in  at  most  a  half  an  hour,  yet  it  usually  took  me  from  two  to 
three  hours  to  make  one  of  these  journeys. 

This  daily  trip,  a  few  visits  to  the  Creek  to  wash  all  over,  a 
few  games  of  chess,  attendance  upon  roll  call,  drawing  rations, 
cooking  and  eating  the  same,  "lousing  "  my  fragments  of 
clothes,  and  doing  some  little  duties  for  my  sick  and  helpless 
comrades,  constituted  the  daily  routine  for  myself,  as  for  most 
of  the  active  youths  in  the  prison. 

The  Creek  was  the  great  meeting  point  for  all  inside  the 
Stockade.  All  able  to  walk  were  certain  to  be  there  at  least 
once  during  the  day,  and  we  made  it  a  rendezvous,  a  place  to 
exchange  gossip,  discuss  the  latest  news,  canvass  the  prospects 
of  exchange,  and,  most  of  all,  to  curse  the  Rebels.  Indeed  no 
conversation  ever  progressed  very  far  without  both  speaker  and 
listener  taking  frequent  rests  to  say  bitter  things  as  to  the 
Rebels  generally,  and  Wirz,  "Winder  and  Davis  in  particular. 

A  conversation  between  two  boys  —  strangers  to  each  other  — 
who  came  to  the  Creek  to  wash  themselves  or  their  clothes,  or 
for  some  other  purpose,  would  progress  thus : 

First  Boy  —  "I  belong  to  the  Second  Corps, —  Hancock'^ 
[the  Army  of  the  Potomac  boys  always  mentioned  what  Carps 
they  belonged  to,  ^here  the  Western  boys  stated  their  Beg- 


STORY  OIT  REBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS. 


325 


{merit."]  They  got  me  at  Spottsylvania,  when  they  were  butting 
their  heads  against  our  breast- works,  trying  to  get  even  with  us 
for  gobbling  up  Johnson  in  the  morning," — He  stops  suddenly 
and  changes  tone  to  say :  "  I  hope  to  God,  that  when  our  folks 
get  Kichmond,  they  will  put  old  Ben  Butler  in  command  of  it, 

with  orders  to  limb, 
skin  and  jayhawk  it 
worse  than  he  did 
New  Orleans." 

Second  Boy,  (fer 
vently  :)  "  I  wish  to 
God  he  would,  and 
that  he'd  catch  old 
Jeff.,  and  that  gray- 
headed  devil,  Win 
der,  and  the  old 
Dutch  Captain,  strip 
'em  just  as  we  were, 
put  'em  in  this  pen, 
with  just  the  rations 
they  are  givin'  us, 


and  set  a  guard  of 
plantation  niggers 
over  'em,  with  orders 
to  blow  their  whole 
infernal  heads  oil',  if  they  dared  so  much  as  to  look  at  the  dead 
line." 

First  Boy  —  (returning  to  the  story  of  his  capture.)  "Old 
Hancock  caught  the  Johnnies  that  morning  the  neatest  you 
ever  saw  anything  in  your  life.  AfLer  the  two  armies  had 
murdered  each  other  for  four  or  five  days  in  the  Wilderness,  by 
fighting  so  close  together  that  much  of  the  time  you  could 
almost  shake  hands  with  the  Gray  backs,  both  hauled  off  a 
little,  and  lay  and  glowered  at  each  other.  Each  side  had  lost 
about  twentv  thousand  men  in  learning  that  if  it  attacked  the 

»  CD 

other  it  would  get  mashed  tine.  So  each  built  a  line  of  works 
and  lay  behind  them,  and  tried  to  nag  the  other  into  coming 
out  and  attacking.  At  Spottsylvania  our  lines  and  those  of  the 
Johnnies  weren't  twelve  hundred  yards  apart  The  ground 


sai. 


DENOUNCING  THE  SOUTHERN  CONFEDERACY. 


/ 

was  clear  and  clean  between  them,  and  any  force  that 
attempted  to  cross  it  to  attack  would  be  cut  to  pieces,  as  sure 
as  anything.  We  laid  there  three  or  four  days  watching  each 
other — just  like  boys  at  school,  who  shake  fists  and  'dare* 
each  other.  At  one  place  the  Rebel  line  ran  out  towards  us 
like  the  top  of  a  great  letter  <A.'  The  night  of  the  llth  of  May 
it  rained  very  hard,  and  then  came  a  fog  so  thick  that  you 
couldn't  see  the  length  of  a  company.  Hancock  thought  he'd 
take  advantage  of  this.  We  were  all  turned  out  very  quietly 
about  four  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Not  a  bit  of  noise  was 
allowed.  We  even  had  to  take  off  our  canteens  and  tin  cups, 
that  they  might  not  rattle  against  our  bayonets.  The  ground 
was  so  wet  that  our  footsteps  couldn't  be  heard.  It  was  one  of 
those  deathly  still  movements,  when  you  think  your  heart  is 
making  as  much  noise  as  a  bass  drum. 

"  The  Johnnies  didn't  seem  to  have  the  faintest  suspicion  of 
what  was  coming,  though  they  ought,  because  we  would  have 
expected  such  an  attack  from  them  if  we  hadn't  made  it  our 
selves.  Their  pickets  were  out  just  a  little  ways  from  their 
works,  and  we  were  almost  on  to  them  before  they  discovered 
us.  They  fired  and  ran  back.  At  this  we  raised  a  yell  and 
dashed  forward  at  a  charge.  As  we  poured  over  the  works,  the 
Rebels  came  double-quicking  up  to  defend  them.  We  flanked 
Johnson's  Division  quicker'n  you  could  say  <  Jack  Robinson,'  and 
had  four  thousand  of  'em  in  our  grip  just  as  nice  as  you  please. 
We  sent  them  to  the  rear  under  guard,  and  started  for  the  next 
line  of  Rebel  works  about  a  half  a  mile  away.  But  we  had 
now  waked  up  the  whole  of  Lee's  army,  and  they  all  came 
straight  for  us,  like  packs  of  mad  wolves.  Ewell  struck  us  in 
the  center;  Longstreet  let  drive  at  our  left  flank,  and  Hill 
tackled  our  right.  We  fell  back  to  the  works  we  had  taken, 
Warren  and  Wright  came  up  to  help  us,  and  we  had  it  hot  and 
heavy  for  the  rest  of  the  day  and  part  of  the  night.  The  John 
nies  seemed  so  mad  over  what  we'd  done  that  they  were  half 
crazy.  They  charged  us  five  times,  coming  up  every  time  just 
as  if  they  were  going  to  lift  us  right  out  of  the  works  with  the 
bayonet.  About  midnight,  after  they'd  lost  over  ten  thousand 
men,  they  seemed  to  understand  that  we  had  pre-empted  that 
of  real  estate,  and  didn't  propose  to  allow  anybody  to 


A  STORY  OF  REBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS.  327 

jump  our  claim,  so  they  fell  back  sullen  like  to  their  main 
works.  When  they  came  on  the  last  charge,  our  Brigadier 
walked  behind  each  of  our  regiments  and  said  : 

"  •  Boys,  we'll  send  ?em  back  this  time  for  keeps.  Give  it  to 
'em  by  the  acre,  and  when  they  begin  to  waver,  we'll  all  jump 
over  the  works  and  go  for  them  with  the  bavonet.' 

"  We  did  it  just  that  way.  We  poured  such  a  fire  on  them 
that  the  bullets  knocked  up  the  ground  in  front  just  like  you 
have  seen  the  deep  dust  in  a  road  in  the  middle  of  Summer  fly 
up  when  the  first  great  big  drops  of  a  rain  storm  strike  it. 
But  they  came  on,  yelling  and  swearing,  officers  in  front  wav 
ing  swords,  and  shouting  —  all  that  business,  you  know.  When 
they  got  to  about  one  hundred  yards  from  us,  they  did  not  seem 
to  be  coming  so  fast,  and  there  was  a  good  deal  of  confusion 
among  them.  The  brigade  bugle  sounded 

"  « Stop  firing.' 

"  We  all  ceased  instantly.  The  Rebels  looked  up  in  astonish 
ment.  Our  General  sang  out 

'"Fix  bayonets!' 

but  we  knew  what  was  coming,  and  were  already  executing  the 
order.  You  can  imagine  the  crash  that  ran  down  the  line,  as 
every  fellow  snatched  his  bayonet  out  and  slapped  it  on  the 
muzzle  of  his  gun.  Then  the  General's  voice  rang  out  like  a 
bugle : 

"  '  Ready  !  —  FORWARD  !  CHARGE  ! J 

"We  cheered  till  everything  seemed  to  split,  and  jumped 
over  the  works,  almost  every  man  at  the  same  minute.  The 
Johnnies  seemed  to  have  been  puzzled  at  the  stoppage  of  our 
fire.  When  we  all  came  sailing  over  the  works,  with  guns 
brought  right  down  where  they  meant  business,  they  were  so 
astonished  for  a  minute  that  they  stood  stock  still,  not  knowing 
whether  to  come  for  us,  or  run.  We  did  not  allow  them  long 
to  debate,  but  went  right  towards  them  on  the  double  quick, 
with  the  bayonets  looking  awful  savage  and  hungry.  It  was 
too  much  for  Mr.  Johnny  Reb's  nerves.  They  all  seemed  to 
4  about  facje '  at  once,  and  they  lit  out  of  there  as  if  they  had 
been  sent  for  in  a  hurry.  We  chased  after  'em  as  fast  as  we 
could,  and  picked  up  just  lots  of  :em.  Finally  it  began  to  be 
funny.  A  Johnny's  wind  would  begin  to  give  out  he'd 


323 


AJTDERSOHYILLE. 


faH  behind  his  comrades ;  he'd  hear  us  yell  and  think  that  we 
were  right  behind  Him,  ready  to  sink  a  bayonet  through  htm ; 
he'd  turn  around,  throw  up  his  hands,  and  sing  out : 

" '  I  surrender,  mister  1   I  surrender  I '   and  find  that  we  were 


THE    CHAKQS. 

a  hundred  feet  off,  and  would  have  to  have  a  bayonet  as  long 
as  one  of  McClellan's  general  orders  to  touch  him. 

"  Well,  my  company  was  the  left  of  our  regiment,  and  our 
regiment  was  the  left  of  the  brigade,  and  we  swung  out  ahead 
of  all  the  rest  of  the  boys.  In  our  excitement  of  chasing  the 
Johnnies,  we  didn't  see  that  we  had  passed  an  angle  of  their 
works.  About  thirty  of  us  had  become  separated  from  the 
company  and  were  chasing  a  squad  of  about  seventy-live  or  one 
hundred.  "We  had  got  up  so  close  to  them  that  we  hollered : 

" 4  Halt  there,  now,  or  we'll  blow  your  heads  off.' 


A.  BTORT  OF  BEBEL  MmTJkltY  PBIflOim.  320 

"  They  turned  round  with  <  Halt  yourselves ;  yon 

Yankee 

"We  looked  around  at  this,  and  saw  that  we  were  not  one 
hundred  feet  away  from  the  angle  of  the  works,  which  were 
filled  with  Rebels  waiting  for  our  fellows  to  get  to  where  they 
could  have  a  good  flank  fire  upon  them.  There  was  nothing 
to  do  but  to  throw  down  our  guns  and  surrender,  and  we  had 
hardly  gone  inside  of  the  works,  until  the  Johnnies  opened  on 
our  brigade  and  drove  it  back.  This  ended  the  battle  at  Spott- 
gylvania  Court  House." 

Second  Boy  (irrelevantly.)  "  Some  day  the  underpinning  will 

fly  out  from  under  the South,  and  let  it  sink  right  into 

the  middle  kittle  o'  helL" 

First  Boy  (savagely.)  "  I  only  wish  the  whole  Southern  Con 
federacy  was  hanging  over  hell  by  a  single  string,  and  I  had  ft 
knife." 


CHAPTEK  XLIY. 

EEBEL  MUSIC  —  SINGULAR  LACK  OF  THE  CREATIVE  PC- WEB  AMOWO 
THE  SOUTHERNERS CONTRAST  WITH  SIMILAR  PEOPLE  ELSE 
WHERE  THEIR  FAVORITE  MU8,IO,  AND  WHERE  IT  WAS  BORROWED 

FROM A   FIFER   WITH    ONE   TUNE. 

I  have  before  mentioned  as  among  the  things  that  grew  upon 
one  with  increasing  acquaintance  with  the  Rebels  on  their 
native  heath,  was  astonishment  at  their  lack  of  mechanical  skill, 
and  at  their  inability  to  grapple  with  numbers  and  the  simpler 
processes  of  arithmetic.  Another  characteristic  of  the  same 
nature  was  their  wonderful  lack  of  musical  ability,  or  of  any 
kind  of  tuneful  creativeness. 

Elsewhere,  all  over  the  world,  people  living  under  similar 
conditions  to  the  Southerners  are  exceedingly  musical,  and  we 
owe  the  great  majority  of  the  sweetest  compositions  which 
delight  the  ear  and  subdue  the  senses  to  unlettered  song-makers 
of  the  Swiss  mountains,  the  Tyrolese  valleys,  the  Bavarian 
Highlands,  and  the  minstrels  of  Scotland,  Ireland  and  Wales. 

The  mu;>ic  of  English-speaking  people  is  very  largely  made 
up  of  these  contributions  from  the  folk-songs  of  dwellers  in  the 
wilder  and  more  mountainous  parts  of  the  British  Isles.  One 
rarely  goes  far  out  of  the  way  in  attributing  to  this  source  any 
air  that  he  may  hear  that  captivates  him  with  its  seductive  opu 
lence  of  harmony.  Exquisite  melodies,  limpid  and  unstrained 
as  the  carol  of  a  bird  in  Spring-time,  and  as  plaintive  as  the  coo 
ing  of  a  turtle-dove  seems  as  natural  products  of  the  Scottish 
Highlands  as  the  gorse  which  blazons  on  their  hillsides  in 
August.  Debarred  from  expressing  their  aspirations  as  people 


,      A  BTOBY  OF  BEBEL  lOLrrABY  PBIBOHS*  831 

of  broader  culture  do  —  in  painting,  in  sculpture,  in  poetry  and 
prose,  these  mountaineers  make  song  the  flexible  and  ready 
instrument  for  the  communication  of  every  emotion  that  sweeps 
across  their  souls. 

Love,  hatred,  grief,  revenge,  anger,  and  especially  war  seems 
to  tune  their  minds  to  harmony,  and  awake  the  voice  of  song 
in  their  hearts.  The  battles  which  the  Scotch  and  Irish  fought 
to  replace  the  luckless  Stuarts  upon  the  British  throne  —  the 
bloody  rebellions  of  1715  and  1745,  left  a  rich  legacy  of  sweet 
song,  the  outpouring  of  loving,  passionate  loyalty  to  a  wretched 
cause ;  songs  which  are  to-day  esteemed  and  sung  wherever  the 
English  language  is  spoken,  by  people  who  have  long  since  for 
gotten  what  burning  feelings  gave  birth  to  their  favorite  mel 
odies. 

For  a  century  the  bones  of  both  the  Pretenders  have  mol- 
dered  in  alien  soil ;  the  names  of  James  Edward,  and  Charles 
Edward,  which  were  once  trumpet  blasts  to  rouse  armed  men, 
mean  as  little  to  the  multitude  of  to-day  as  those  of  the  Saxon 
Ethelbert,  and  Danish  Hardicanute,  yet  the  world  goes  on  sing 
ing —  and  will  probably  as  long  as  the  English  language  is  spo 
ken— "Wha'll  be  King  but  Charlie?"  "When  Jamie  Comes 
Hame,"  "  Over  the  Water  to  Charlie,"  "  Charlie  is  my  Dar 
ling,"  "  The  Bonny  Blue  Bonnets  are  Over  the  Border,"  "Sad 
dle  Tour  Steeds  and  Awa,"  and  a  myriad  others  whose  infinite 
tenderness  and  melody  no  modern  composer  can  equal. 

Yet  these  same  Scotch  and  Irish,  the  same  Jacobite  English, 
transplanted  on  account  of  their  chronic  rebelliousness  to  the 
mountains  of  Virginia,  the  Carolinas,  and  Georgia,  seem  to  have 
lost  their  tunefulness,  as  some  line  singing  birds  do  when  car 
ried  from  their  native  shores.  The  descendants  of  those  who 
drew  swords  for  James  and  Charles  at  Preston  Pans  and  Cullo- 
den  dwell  to-day  in  the  dales  and  valleys  of  the  Alleganies,  as 
their  fathers  did  in  the  dales  and  valleys  of  the  Grampians,  but 
their  voices  are  mute. 

As  a  rule  the  Southerners  are  fond  of  music.  They  are  fond 
of  singing  and  listening  to  old-fashioned  ballads,  most  of  which 
have  never  been  printed,  but  handed  down  from  oue  generation 
to  the  other,  like  the  Vol kinder  of  Germany.  They  sing  these 
with  the  wild,  fervid  impressiveness  characteristic  of  the  ballad 


832  AJTDERSONVILLE. 

singing  of  unlettered  people.  Very  many  play  tolerably  on  the 
violin  and  banjo,  and  occasionally  one  is  found  whose  instru 
mentation  may  be  caDed  good.  But  above  this  hight  they 
never  soar.  The  only  musician  produced  by  the  South  of  whom 
the  rest  of  the  country  has  ever  heard,  is  Blind  Tom,  the  negro 
idiot.  No  composer,  no  song  writer  of  any  kind  has  appeared 
within  the  borders  of  Dixie. 

It  was  a  disappointment  to  me  that  even  the  stress  of  the 
war,  the  passion  and  fierceness  with  which  the  Rebels  felt  and 
fought,  could  not  stimulate  any  adherent  of  the  Stars  and  Bars 
into  the  production  of  a  single  lyric  worthy  in  the  remotest 
degree  of  the  magnitude  of  the  struggle,  and  the  depth  of  the 
popular  feeling.  Where  two  million  Scotch,  fighting  to  restore 
the  fallen  fortunes  of  the  worse  than  worthless  Stuarts,  filled 
the  world  with  immortal  music,  eleven  million  of  Southerners, 
fighting  for  what  they  claimed  to  be  individual  freedom  and 
national  life,  did  not  produce  any  original  verse,  or  a  bar  of 
music  that  the  world  could  recognize  as  such.  This  is  the  fact ; 
and  an  undeniable  one.  Its  explanation  I  must  leave  to  abler 
analysts  than  I  am. 

Searching  for  peculiar  causes  we  find  but  two  that  make  the 
South  differ  from  the  ancestral  home  of  these  people.  These 
two  were  Climate  and  Slavery.  Climatic  effects  will  not 
account  for  the  phenomenon,  because  we  see  that  the  peasantry 
of  the  mountains  of  Spain  and  the  South  of  France  —  as 
ignorant  as  these  people,  and  dwellers  in  a  still  more  enervating 
atmosphere  —  are  very  fertile  in  musical  composition,  and  their 
songs  are  to  the  Romanic  languages  what  the  Scotch  and  Irish 
ballads  are  to  the  English. 

Then  it  must  be  ascribed  to  the  incubus  oi  Slavery  upon  the 
intellect,  which  has  repressed  this  as  it  has  all  other  healthy 
growths  in  the  South.  Slavery  seems  to  benumb  all  the 
faculties  except  the  passions.  The  fact  that  the  mountaineers 
had  but  few  or  no  slaves,  does  not  seem  to  be  of  importance  in 
the  case.  They  lived  under  the  deadly  shadow  of  the  upas 
tree,  and  suffered  the  consequences  of  its  stunting  their  devel 
opment  in  all  directions,  as  the  ague-smitten  inhabitant  of  the 
Roman  Campana  finds  every  sense  and  every  muscle  clogged 
by  tli£  filtering  in  of  the  insidious  miasma.  They  did 


A  STORY  OF  REBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS.  333 

compose'songs  and  music,  because  they  did  not  have  the  intel 
lectual  energy  for  that  work. 

O»y 

The  negros  displayed  all  the  musical  creativeness  of  that  sec 
tion.  Their  wonderful  prolificness  in  wild,  rude  songs,  with 
strangely  melodious  airs  that  burned  themselves  into  the  mem 
ory,  was  one  of  the  salient  characteristics  of  that  down-trodden 
race.  Like  the  Russian  serfs,  and  the  bondmen  of  all  ages  and 
lands,  the  songs  they  made  and  sang  all  had  an  undertone  of 
touching  plaintiveness,  born  of  ages  of  dumb  suffering.  The 
themes  were  exceedingly  simple,  and  the  range  of  subjects  lim 
ited.  The  joys,  and  sorrows,  hopes  and  despairs  of  love's  grat" 
ification  or  disappointment,  of  struggles  for  freedom,  contests 
with  malign  persons  and  influences,  of  rage,  hatred,  jealousy, 
revenge,  such  as  form  the  motifs  for  the  majority  of  the  poetry 
of  free  and  strong  races,  were  wholly  absent  from  their  lyrics. 
Religion,  hunger  and  toil  were  their  main  inspiration.  They 
sang  of  the  pleasures  of  idling  in  the  genial  sunshine;  the 
delights  of  abundance  of  food  ;  the  eternal  happiness  that 
awaited  them  in  the  heavenly  future,  where  the  slave-driver 
ceased  from  troubling  and  the  weary  were  at  rest ;  where  Time 
rolled  around  in  endless  cycles  of  days  spent  in  basking,  harp 
in  hand,  and  silken  clad,  in  golden  streets,  under  the  soft 
effulgence  of  cloudless  skies,  glowing  with  warmth  and  kind 
ness  emanating  from  the  Creator  himself.  Had  their  masters 
condescended  to  borrow  the  music  of  the  slaves,  they  would 
have  found  none  whose  sentiments  were  suitable  for  the  odes 
of  a  people  undergoing  the  pangs  of  what  was  hoped  to  be  the 
birth  of  a  new  nation. 

The  three  songs  most  popular  at  the  South,  and  generally 
regarded  as  distinctively  Southern,  were  k'  The  Bonnie  Blue 
Flag,"  "Maryland,  My  ^Mary land,"  and  "Stonewall  Jackson 
Crossing  into  Maryland."  The  first  of  these  was  the  greatest 
favorite  bv  long  odds.  Women  sang,  men  whistled,  and 
the  so-called  musicians  played  it  wherever  we  went.  While  in 
the  field  before  capture,  it  was  the  commonest  of  experiences  to 
have  Rebel  women  sing  it  at  us  tauntingly  from  the  houses 
that  we  passed  or  near  which  we  stopped.  If  ever  near  enough 
a  Rebel  camp,  we  were  sure  to  hear  its  wailing  crescendos 
rising  upon  the  air  from  the  lips  or  instruments  of  some  one  or 


834 


JUV  DTtftflONVTLLlL, 


more  quartered  there.  At  Richmond  rt  rang  trpun  tra  oon« 
stantly  from  some  source  or  another,  and  the  same  was  tnw 
wherever  else  we  went  in  the  so-called  Confederacy.  I  give 
the  air  and  words  below ; 

«  THE  BONNIE  BLUE  FLAG." 


-4— 1-9?— I 


We    are      a    band    of  brothers,      And    na  -  tive   to      the      soil, 


E:iLk_ 

9  —  r  —  *  —  T— 

-»  — 

1  — 
p       ' 

:           fk, 

i  S  ,  

(.    ] 

$E 

!  ^ 

4-  — 

v     & 

£  —  i  —  ^ 

-*• 

Fight-ing    for    our   Lib  -  er  •  ty,    With  treasure,  blood,  and  toil ;  And 


when  our  rights  were  threatened,  The  cry     rose  aear  and      far,      Hur 


rah       for    the    Bon-nie  Blue  Flag,  that  bears  a    Sin  -  gle     Starl 

CHORUS. 


^    .   9 f       i         - 

=jj  T  J  '   J  -g: 

<g        ^J-_P        » 


Hur  -  rahl     Hur  -  rah!      for    South  -  ern  Rights,  Hur  -  rah!     Hur- 


-*^r  * is    i      r^ 

•a<  T8!    q — j— TJ — J3- 


=  3t 


.  rah  !   for   the   Bonnie  Blue  Flag,  that  bears   a     Sin  -  gle     Star  1 

All  familiar  with  Scotch  songs  will  readily  recognize  the 
name  and  air  as  an  old  friend,  and  one  of  the  fierce  Jacobite 
melodies  that  for  a  long  time  disturbed  the  tranquility  of  the 
Brunswick  family  on  the  English  throne.  The  new  words  sup 
plied  ^by  the  Rebels  are  the  merest  doggerel,  and  fit  the 
music  as  poorly  as  the  unchanged  name  of  the  song  fitted  to  its 
new  use.  The  fla^  of  the  ivclullion  was  not  a  bonnie  blue  one; 


A  fiTOKT  OF  EEBEL  MTLITAJRY  PRISONS. 

bnt  bad  quite  as  much  red  and  white  as  azure.     It  did  not  have 
a  single  star,  but  thirteen. 

Next  in  popularity  was  "Maryland,  My  Maryland."  The 
versification  of  this  was  of  a  much  higher  order,  being  fairly 
respectable.  The  air  is  old,  and  a  familiar  one  to  all  college 
students,  and  belongs  to  one  of  the  most  common  of  German 
household  songs : 

O,  Tannenbaum!  O,  Tannenbanm,  wie  trn  sind  deine  Blaetterl 
Du  gruenst  nieht  unr  znr  Sommcrzeit, 
Nein,  auch  in  Winter,  when  ea  Schneit,  etc. 

which  Longfellow  has  finely  translated, 

O,  hemlock  tree!  O,  hemlock  tree!  how  faitnfol  are  thy  branchei! 

Green  not  alone  in  Summer  time, 

Bat  in  the  Winter's  host  and  rime. 
O,  hemlock  tree!  O,  hemlock  treel  how  faithful  are  thy  braucbea,  etc. 

The  Rebel  version  ran : 

MARYLAND. 

The  despot's  heel  is  on  thy  short, 

Maryland! 
Hta  tonch  is  at  thy  temple  door, 

Maryland! 

Arenge  the  patriotic  gore 
That  flecked  the  streets  of  Baltimore, 
And  be  the  battle  queen  of  yore, 
Maryland!     My  Maryland! 

Hark  to  the  wand'ring  son's  appeal, 

Maryland! 
My  mother  State,  to  thee  I  tneel, 

Maryland! 

7or  life  and  death,  for  woe  and  weal 
Thy  peerless  chivalry  reveal, 
And  gird  thy  beauteous  limbs  with 
Maryland!     My  Maryland! 

Thon  wilt  not  cower  in  the  dust, 

Maryland! 
Thy  beaming  sword  shall  never  mat, 

Maryland! 

Remember  Carroll's  sacred  trust, 
Remember  Howard's  warlike  threat— 
And  all  thy  elumbererg  with  the  jiut, 
Maryland!    My  Maryland! 

Oome!  'tis  the  red  dawn  of  the  day, 

Maryland! 
Come!  with  thy  panoplied  array, 

iijiaryland] 

With  Rin^gold's  spirit  for  the  fray, 
With  Watson's  blood  at  Monterey, 
With  f  earkss  Lowe  and  daahing  May, 
Mary  land  1    Mj 


ft  3ft  AITDEHSONVILLE. 

Comet    for  thy  shield  IB  bright  and  strong, 

Maryland  I 
Come!  for  thy  dalliance  does  thee  wrong, 

Maryland  I 

Come!    to  thine  own  heroic  thronf , 
That  atalka  with  Liberty  along, 
And  give  a  new  Key  to  thy  song, 
,  Maryland!    My  Maryland! 

Dear  Mother!  burst  the  tyrant's  chain, 

Maryland! 
Virginia  should  not  call  in  rain, 

Maryland! 

She  meets  her  sisters  on  the  plain  — 
"Sie  semper,"  'tis  the  prond  refrain, 
That  baffles  millions  back  «^Tn«ittt 

Maryland! 

Arise,  in  "majesty  again, 
Maryland!    My  Maryland  I 

I  see  the  blnsh  npon  thy  cheek, 

Maryland! 
But  thou  wast  ever  bravely  meek, 

Maryland! 

Bnt  lo!  there  surges  forth  a  shriek 
From  hill  to  hill,  from  creek  to  creek  — 
Potomac  calls  to  Chesapeake, 
Maryland!    My  Maryland! 

Thou  wilt  not  yield  the  Vandal  toll, 

Maryland! 
Thou  wilt  not  crook  to  his  control, 

Maryland! 

Better  the  fire  upon  thee  roll, 
Better  the  blade,  the  shot,  the  bowl, 
Than  crucifixion  of  the  soul, 
Maryland!    My  Maryland! 

I  hear  the  distant  Thunder  hum, 

Maryland! 
The  Old  Line's  bogle,  fife,  and  drum. 

Maryland! 

She  is  not  dead,  nor  deaf,  nor  dumb  — 
Huzza!  she  spurns  the  Northern  scum! 
6 he  breathes  —  she  burns!  she'll  come!  she'll  corns! 
Maryland!    My  Maryland! 

"  Stonewall  Jackson  Crossing  into  Maryland,"  was  another 
travesty,  of  about  the  same  literary  merit,  or  rather  demerit,  as 
"  The  Bonnie  Blue  Flag."  Its  air  was  that  of  the  well-known, 
and  popular  negro  minstrel  song,  "  Billy  Patterson."  For  all 
that,  it  sounded  very  martial  and  stirring  when  played  by  a 
brass  band. 

We  heard  these  songs  with  tiresome  iteration,  daily  and 
nightly,  during  our  stay  in  the  Southern  Confederacy.  Some 


*A  flTOET  OF  BEBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS.  837 

oneTof  the  guards  seemed  to  be  perpetually  beguiling  the  wear. 
iness  of  his  \vatch  by  singing  in  all  keys,  in  every  sort  of  a 
voice,  and  with  the  wildest  latitude  as  to  air  and  time.  They 
became  so  terribly  irritating  to  us,  that  to  this  day  the  remem 
brance  of  those  soul-lacerating  lyrics  abides  with  me  as  one  of 
the  chief  of  the  minor  torments  of  our  situation.  They  were,  in 
fact,  nearly  as  bud  as  the  lice. 

"We  revenged  ourselves  as  best  we  could  by  constructing 
fearfully  wicked,  obscene  and  insulting  parodies  on  these,  and 
by  singing  them  with  irritating  effusiveness  in  the  hearing  of 
the  guards  who  were  inflicting  these  nuisances  upon  us. 

Of  the  same  nature  was  the  garrison  music.  One  fife,  played 
by  an  asthmatic  old  fellow  whose  breathings  were  nearly  as 
audible  as  his  notes,  and  one  rheumatic  drummer,  constituted 
the  entire  band  for  the  post.  The  lifer  actually  knew  but  one 
tune — "The  Bonnie  Blue  Flag"-  — and  did  not  know  that  well. 
But  it  was  all  that  h<j  h;ui,  and  he  played  it  with  wearisome 
monotony  for  every  camp  call  —  five  or  six  times  a  day,  and 
seven  days  in  the  week.  Me  called  us  up  in  the  morning  with 
it  for  a  reveille;  he  sounded  the  "roll  call"  and  "drill  call,'' 
breakfast,  dinner  a^id  supper  with  it,  and  finally  sent  us  to  bed, 
with  the  same  dreary  wail  that  had  rung  in  our  ears  all  day. 
I  never  hated  any  piece  of  music  as  I  came  to  hate  that  thren 
ody  of  treason.  It  would  have  been  such  a  relief  if  the  old 
asthmatic  who  played  it  could  have  been  induced  to  learn  another 
tune  to  play  on  Sundays,  and  give  us  one  day  of  rest.  He  did 
not,  but  desecrated  the  Lord's  Day  by  playing  as  vilely  as  on 
the  rest  of  the  week.  The  Rebels  were  fully  conscious  of  their 
musical  deficiencies,  and  made  repeated  but  unsuccessful 
attempts  to  induce  the  musicians  among  the  prisoners  to  ooma 
outside  and  form  a  band. 
23 


CHAPTEK  XLY. 


ATTOTTfT KEEDLE8    STUCK   IN    PUMPKIN   SEEDS  —  SOME 

OF    STARVATION RIOTING    IN    REMEMBERED    LUXURIES. 

"Hlincy,"  said  tall,  gaunt  Jack  North,  of  the  One    Hun 
dred  and  Fourteenth  Illinois,  to  me,  one  day,  as  we  sat  contem 
plating  our  naked,  and  sadly  attenuated  underpinning ;  "  what 
do  our  legs  and  feet  most  look  like  ? " 
"  Give  it  up,  Jack,"  said  I. 

"  Why — darning  needles  stuck  in  pumpkin  seeds,  of  course." 
I  never  heard  a  better  comparison  for  our  wasted  limbs. 
The  effects  of  the  great  bodily  emaciation  were  sometimes 
very  startling.      Boys  of  a  fleshy  habit 
would  change  so  in  a  few  weeks  as  to  lose 
all  resemblance  to  their  former  selves,  and 
comrades   who    came    into   prison    later 
would    utterly  fail   to   recognize    them. 
Most  fat  men,  as   most  large  men,   died 
in  a  little  while  after  entering,   though 
there    were    exceptions.      One    of    these 
was  a  boy  of  my  own  company,  named 
George  Hillicks.      George  had  shot   up 
within  a  few  years  to  over  six  feet  in 
hight,  and  then,  as  such  boys  occasionally 
do,  had,  after  enlisting  with  us,  taken  on 
llgllp?  such  a  development  of  flesh  that  we  nick 
named  him  the  "  Giant,"  and  he  became  a 
''iifrv  %i^Sx^"~  pretty  good  load  for  even  the  strongest 
••  wle'sTAMp".  M          horse.      George    held    his  flesfi   through 
Belle  Isle,  and  the  earlier  weeks  in  Anderson ville,  but  June, 
July,    and    August  "fetched    him,"  as  the   boys  said.     He 


A  BTOBY  OF  EKBKL  ICLITABT  PRISONS, 


339 


teemed  to  melt  away  like  an  icicle  on  a  Spring  day,  and  he 
grew  so  thin  that  his  hight  seemed  preternatural.  We  called 
him  "  Flagstaff,"  and  cracked  all  sorts  of  jokes  about  putting 
an  insulator  on  his  head,  and  setting  him  up  for  a  telegraph 
pole,  braiding  his  legs  and  using  him  for  a  whip  lash,  letting 
his  hair  grow  a  little  longer,  and  trading  Him  off  to  the  Rebels 
for  a  sponge  and  staff  for  the  artillery,  etc.  We  all  expect  r-d 
him  to  die,  and  looked  continually  for  the  development  of  the 
fatal  scurvy  symptoms,  which  were  to  seal  his  doom.  But  ue 
worried  through,  and  came  out  at  last  in  good  shape,  a  happy 
result  due  as  much  as  to  anything  else  to  his  having  in  Chester 
Hay  ward,  of  Prairie  City,  111., —  one  of  the  most  devoted 
chums  I  ever  knew.  Cli&ater  nursed  and  looked  out  for 


SUBBING    A    BIOS    COMKADB. 


with  wife  like  fidelity,  and  had  his  reward  in  bringing  him  safo 
through  our  lines.  There  were  thousands  of  instances  of  this 
generous  devotion  to  each  other  by  ehums  in  Andersonville, 
and  I  know  of  nothing  that  reliects  any  more  credit  upon  our 
boy  soldiers. 

There  was  little  chance  for  anyone  to  accumulate  flesh  on 
the  rations  we  were  receiving.  I  say  it  in  all  soberness  that  I 
do  not  believe  that  a  healthy  hen  could  have  grown  fat 


810  JLHDESSONVILLZ. 

apon  them.  I  am  sure  that  any  good-si  zed  "  shanghai "  eata 
more  every  day  than  the  meager  half  loaf  that  we  had  to 
maintain  life  upon.  Scanty  as  this  was,  and  hungry  as  all 
were,  very  many  could  not  eat  it.  Their  stomachs  revolted 
against  the  trash;  it  became  so  nauseous  to  them  that  they 
could  not  force  it  down,  even  when  famishing,  and  they 
died  of  starvation  with  the  chunks  of  the  so-called  bread 
under  their  head.  I  found  myself  rapidly  approaching  this  con 
dition.  I  had  been  blessed  with  a  good  digestion  and  a  talent 
for  sleeping  under  the  most  discouraging  circumstances.  These, 
I  have  no  doubt,  were  of  the  greatest  assistance  to  me  in  my 
struggle  for  existence.  But  now  the  rations  became  fearfully 
obnoxious  to  me,  and  it  was  only  with  the  greatest  effort  — 
pulling  the  bread  into  little  pieces  and  swallowing  each  of  these 
as  one  would  a  pill  —  that  I  succeeded  in  worrying  the  stuff 
down.  I  had  not  as  yet  fallen  away  very  much,  but  as  I  had 
never,  up  to  that  time,  weighed  so  much  as  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  pounds,  there  was  no  great  amount  of  adipose  to 
lose.  It  was  evident  that  unless  some  change  occurred  my  time 
was  near  at  hand. 

There  was  not  only  hunger  for  more  food,  but  longing  with 
an  intensity  beyond  expression  for  alteration  of  some  kind  in 
the  rations.  The  changeless  monotony  of  the  miserable  saltless 
bread,  or  worse  mush,  for  days,  weeks  and  months,  became 
unbearable.  If  those  wretched  mule  teams  had  only  once  a 
month  hauled  in  something  different  —  if  they  had  come  in 
loaded  with  sweet  potatos,  green  corn  or  wheat  flour,  there 
would  be  thousands  of  men  still  living  who  now  slumber 
beneath  those  melancholy  pines.  It  would  have  given  some 
thing  to  look  forward  to,  and  remember  when  past.  But  to 
know  each  day  that  the  gates  would  open  to  admit  the  same 
distasteful  apologies  for  food  took  away  the  appetite  and  raised 
one's  gorge,  even  while  famishing  for  something  to  eat. 

TVe  could  for  a  while  forget  the  stench,  the  lice,  the  heat,  the 
maggots,  the  dead  and  dying  around  us,  the  insulting  malig- 
nance  of  our  jailors;  but  it  was  very  hard  work  to  banish 
thoughts  and  longings  for  food  from  our  minds.  Hundreds 
became  actually  insane  from  brooding  over  it.  Crazy  men 
could  be  found  in  all  parts  of  the  camp.  Numbers  of  them 


A  8TOKT  OF  HKBEL  MILITARY  PRISONS. 

trandered  around  entirely  naked.  Their  babblings  and  marm- 
derings  about  something  to  eat  were  painful  to  hear.  I  have 
before  mentioned  the  case  of  the  Plymouth  Pilgrim  near  me, 
whose  insanity  took  the  form  of  imagining  that  he  was  sitting 
at  the  table  with  his  family,  and  who  would  go  through  the 
show  of  helping  them  to  imaginary  viands  and  delicacies.  The 
cravings  for  green  food  of  those  afflicted  with  the  scurvy  were 
agonizing.  Large  numbers  of  watermelons  were  brought  to 
the  prison,  and  sold  to  those  who  had  the  money  to  pay  for 
them  at  from  one  to  five  dollars,  greenbacks,  apiece.  A  boy 
who  had  means  to  buy  a  piece  of  these  would  be  followed 
about  while  eating  it  by  a  crowd  of  perhaps  twenty-five  or 
thirty  livid-gummed  scorbutics,  each  imploring  him  for  the 
rind  when  he  was  through  with  it. 

O 

"VYe  thought  of  food  all  day,  and  were  visited  with  torturing 
dreams  of  it  at  night.  One  of  the  pleasant  recollections  of  my 
pre-military  life  was  a  banquet  at  the  "  Planter's  House,"  St. 
Louis,  at  which  I  was  a  boyish  guest.  It  was,  doubtless,  an 
ordinary  affair,  as  banquets  go,  but  to  me  then,  with  all  the 
keen  appreciation  of  youth  and  first  experience,  it  was  a  feast 
worthy  of  Lucullus.  But  now  this  delightful  reminiscence 

v  O 

became  a  torment.  Hundreds  of  times  I  dreamed  I  was  again 
at  the  "  Planter's."  I  saw  the  wide  corridors,  with  their  mosaic 
pavement;  I  entered  the  grand  dining-room,  keeping  timidly 
near  the  friend  to  whose  kindness  I  owed  this  wonderful  favor ; 
I  saw  again  the  mirror-lined  walls,  the  evergreen  decked  ceil 
ings,  the  festoons  and  m ottos,  the  tables  gleaming  with  cut- 
glass  and  silver,  the  buffets  with  wines  and  fruits,  the  brigade 
of  sleek,  black,  white-aproned  waiters,  headed  by  one  who  had 
presence  enough  for  a  Major  General.  Again  I  reveled  in  all 
the  dainties  and  dishes  on  the  bill-of-fare ;  calling  for  every 
thing  that  I  dared  to.  just  to  see  what  each  was  like,  and  to  be 
able  to  say  afterwards  that  I  had  partaken  of  it ;  ;ill  these 
bewildering  delights  of  the  first  realization  of  what  a  boy  has 
read  and  wondered  much  over,  and  longed  for,  would  dance 
their  rout  and  reel  through  my  somnolent  brain.  Then  I  would 
awake  to  find  myself  a  half-naked,  half-starved,  vermin-eaten 
wretch,  crouching  in  a  hole  in  the  ground,  waiting  for  my 
keepers  to  fling  rue  a  chunk  of  corn  bread. 


842  ABDEBSOITVTLLX. 

Naturally  the  boys  —  and  especially  the  country  boys  and 
new  prisoners — talked  much  of  victuals  —  what  they  had  had, 
and  what  they  would  have  again,  when  they  got  out.  Take 
this  as  a  sample  of  the  conversation  which  might  be  heard  in 
any  group  of  boys,  sitting  together  on  the  sand,  killing  lice  and 
talking  of  exchange : 

Tom — "  Well,  Bill,  when  we  get  back  to  God's  country,  yon 
«nd  Jim  and  John  must  all  come  to  my  house  and  take  dinner 
with  me.  I  want  to  give  you  a  square  meal.  I  want  to  show 
you  just  what  good  livin'  is.  You  know  my  mother  is  just  the 
best  cook  in  all  that  section.  "When  she  lays  herself  out  to  get 
up  a  meal  all  the  other  women  in  the  neighborhood  just  stand 
back  and  admire " 

BUl  —  "O,  that's  all  right;  but  I'll  bet  she  can't  hold  a 
candle  to  my  mother,  when  it  comes  to  good  cooking." 

Jim  —  "No,  nor  to  mine." 

John  —  (with  patronizing  contempt,)  "  O,  shucks  !  None  of 
you  fellers  were  ever  at  our  house,  even  when  we  had  one  o! 
our  common  week-day  dinners." 

Tom  —  (unheedful  of  the  counter  claims.)  I  hev  been 
study  in'  up  the  dinner  I'd  like,  and  the  bill-of-fare  I'd  set  out 
for  you  fellers  when  you  come  over  to  see  me.  First,  of  course, 
we'll  lay  the  foundation  like  with  a  nice,  juicy  loin  roast,  arid 
some  mashed  potatos. 

Bill  —  (interrupting.)  "Now,  do  you  like  mashed  potatoa 
with  beef  ?  The  way  my  mother  does  is  to  pare  the  potatos, 
and  lay  them  in  the  pan  along  with  the  beef.  Then,  you  know, 
they  come  out  just  as  nice  and  ansp,  and  'brown ;  they  have 
soaked  up  all  the  beef  gravy,  and  they  crinkle  between  your 
teeth  —  " 

Jim — "Now,  I  tell  you,  mashed  Neshannocks  with  butter 
on  'em  is  plenty  good  enough  for  me" 

John  —  "If  you'd  et  some  of  the  new  kind  of  peachbJowa 
that  we  raised  in  the  old  pasture  lot  the  year  before  I  enlisted, 
you'd  never  say  another  word  about  your  Neshannocks." 

Tom  —  (taking  breath  and  starting  in  fresh.)  "  Then  we'll 
hev  some  fried  Spring  chickens,  of  our  dominick  breed.  Them 
dominicks  of  ours  have  the  nicest,  tenderest  meat,  better'n 
quail,  a  durned  sight,  and  the  way  my  mother  can  fry  Spring 
chickens— -w 


A  BTOKY  OF  KEBKL  MILITARY  PEISONB.  84:3 

BiJ.l  —  (aside  to  Jim.)     "Every  durned  woman  in  the  coun 
try  thinks  she  can  'spry  ching  frickcns  ; '  but  my  mother " 

John — "You  fellers  all  know  that  there's  nobody  knows 
half  as  much  about  chicken  doin's  as  these  'tinerant  Methodis' 
preachers.  They  give  'em  chicken  wherever  they  go,  and  folks 
do  say  that  out  in  the  new  settlements  they  can't  get  no 
preachin',  no  gospel,  nor  nothin',  until  the  chickens  become  so 
plenty  that  a  preacher  is  reasonably  sure  of  bavin'  one  for  his 
dinner  wherever  he  may  go.  Xow,  there's  old  Peter  Cart- 
wright,  who  has  traveled  over  Illinoy  and  Indianny  since  the 
the  Year  One,  and  preached  more  good  sermons  than  any  other 
man  who  ever  set  on  saddle-bags,  and  has  et  more  chickens 
than  there  are  birds  in  a  big  pigeon  roost.  Well,  he  took  din 
ner  at  our  house  when  he  came  up  to  dedicate  the  big,  white 
church  at  Simpkin's  Corners,  and  when  he  passed  up  his  plate 
the  third  time  for  more  chicken,  he  sez,  sez  he :  'I 'vo  et  at  a 
great  many  hundred  tables  in  the  fifty  years  I  have  labored  in 
the  vineyard  of  the  Redeemer,  but  I  must  say,  Mrs.  Rig-gins, 
that  your  way  of  frying  chickens  is  a  leetle  the  nicest  that  I 
ever  knew.  I  only  wish  that  the  sisters  generally  would  get 
your  reseet.'  Yes,  that's  what  he  said,  '  a  leetle  the  nicest.' ' 

Tom — "  An'  then,  we'll  hev  biscuits  an'  butter.  I'll  just  bet 
five  hundred  dollars  to  a  cent,  and  give  back  the  cent  if  I  win, 
that  we  have  the  best  butter  at  our  house  that  there  is  in  Cen 
tral  Illinoy.  You  can't  never  hev  good  butter  onless  you  have 
a  spring  house  ;  there's  no  use  of  talkin' —  all  the  patent  churns 
that  lazy  men  ever  invented  —  ail  the  fancy  milk  pans  an'  cool 
ers,  can't  make  up  for  a  spring  house.  Locations  for  a  spring 
house  are  scarcer  than  hen's  teeth  in  Iliinoy,  but  we  hev  one, 
and  there  ain't  a  better  one  in  Orange  County,  New  York. 
Then  you'll  see  some  of  the  biscuits  my  mother  makes." 

Bill  — "  Well,  now,  niy  mothers  a  boss  biscuit-maker,  too." 

Jim — "You  kin  just  gamble  that  mine  is." 

John  — "  O,  that's  the  way  you  fellers  ought  to  think  anj 
talk,  but  my  mother 'r 

Tom  —  (coming  in  again  with  fresh  vigor)  — "  They're  just  as 
light  an'  fluffy  as  a  dandelion  puff,  and  they  melt  in  your  mouth 
like  a  ripe  Bartlett  pear.  You  just  pull  'em  open —  [Now  you 
know  that  I  think  there's  nothin'  that  shows  a  person's  raiaia' 


344  AlTDEBflOirVTLLlL 

BO  well  as  to  see  him  eat  biscuits  an'  butter.  If  he's  been 
raised  mostly  on  corn  bread,  an'  common  doins,'  an'  don't  know 
much  about  good  things  to  eat,  he'll  most  likely  cut  his  biscuit 
open  with  a  case  knife,  an'  make  it  fall  as  flat  as  one  o'  yester 
day's  pancakes.  But  if  he  is  used  to  biscuits,  has  had  'em  often 
at  his  house,  he'll  just  pull  'em  open,  slow  an'  easy  like,  then 
he'll  lay  a  little,  slice  of  butter  inside,  and  drop  a  few  drops  of 
clear  honey  on  this,  an'  stick  the  two  halves  back  together 


"  O,  for  God  Almighty's  sake,  stop  talking  that  inf  ernai 
nonsense,"  roar  out  a  half  dozen  of  the  surrounding  crowd, 
whose  mouths  have  been  watering  over  this  unctuous  recital  of 
tlie  good  things  of  the  table.  "  You  blamed  fools,  do  you  want 
to  drive  yourselves  and  everybody  else  crazy  with  such  stuff  as 
that  Dry  up  and  try  to  think  of  something  else." 


or  YOL. 


lol  37? 


& 


\ 


^  V 


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